Monday - elliptical (15k of effort)
I wanted to go to the gym today to do some weights, and when I saw that it was too cold outside to run in shorts, I decided to do everything on the arc trainer instead of going outside. The gym was busier than I expected (I went at 7pm versus my usual 8am), so I had to weight for my machine. I powered through an hour on the trainer, covering 4.51 units, which is a personal record. I can see myself getting to 4.75 units in my current state of fitness, and I could get to 5.00 eventually. Weights and core as well.
Tuesday - 69 minutes (17km)
A good solid pace from the word 'go'. I ran south through Wortley and back up Wharncliffe. It was cool out. My legs felt really tired afterwards. I should rest up before provincials on Sunday.
Wednesday - workout (19km total)
My legs felt really heavy and tired today. It took me 27 minutes to jog down to Wortley, and 26 minutes to get back, for a good long warmup and cooldown. I did a short tempo followed by some sharpening stuff with partner relays. The tempo was okay, but not stellar, and the relay stuff was reasonably quick. I was surprised with how well the workout went given how tired my legs felt.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Thursday, November 6, 2008
November 3-9
Again, I let my updates slide for a while. My workouts were not great, and my races reflected that. I am now running in the post-Chris era, so most of my easy runs are on my own. I need to get back into a habit of updating my blog to keep my training honest.
Monday - 70 minutes (16km)
Pretty decent run on my own. It was dark by the time I started. I went south through Gibbons, took the bike path on the west branch of the Thames, and got onto Springbank, up to Wonderland, back on Oxford and Western Road. Felt good. It was nice to be able to wear shorts to run.
Tuesday - 60 minutes (14km)
An hour on my own. My legs did not feel as good today. They were a little less fresh. I went up to Alan's subdivision and did some loops up around that way. Another nice day. I did weights and core in the morning.
Wednesday - workout (20km total)
Tough workout today with plenty of hills. Jeff was with me on most of the pieces, and Max ran really well to stick with us for the second set. I did a double-loop of a hilly course, some hills (at a more relaxed pace), a double-loop, more hills, a double-loop, and a single-loop. I had Jeff to work with for the first two double-loops and the first loop of the third double-loop, but then I was on my own. The second lap of the third repeat was a bit slower, but still a good effort, and I came back well with the final single-looper. I worked hard on this one.
Thursday - 60 minutes (14km)
An easy run on my own. I ran from school to my apartment so that I could pick up my car and make it back to campus for my frisbee team's party, then off to bowling. I saw Greg Wieczorek as I was just finishing up, so I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes. A bit chilly tonight.
Friday - OFF
It was a scheduled rest day. I went to the gym and did core and weights, with ten minutes on the arc trainer (what I used to call the elliptical).
Saturday - 66 minutes (15km)
I slept late and missed the group workout. I ran on my own instead, hoping to get in a substitute for a long run, but I ran out of time to go for as long as I would have liked. It was a cool day. I went down to Springbank, and was planning to loop around for another fifteen minutes in my neighbourhood, but I ran out of time.
Sunday - workout (19km total)
I thought I would try to do the race simulation, but with the moist ground I sensed I would get really discouraged by my splits when running on my own, so I did a fartlek pyramid instead. 5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5 minutes hard, with one minute easy between each. It was a good solid effort, but the last two repeats had a couple of slow strides by the end. I did a 25 minute warmup and a 21 minute cooldown. It took a lot out of me.
Total - 98km. Close to three digits. If I included about 4k worth of work on the elliptical, I could call it 102k for the week.
Monday - 70 minutes (16km)
Pretty decent run on my own. It was dark by the time I started. I went south through Gibbons, took the bike path on the west branch of the Thames, and got onto Springbank, up to Wonderland, back on Oxford and Western Road. Felt good. It was nice to be able to wear shorts to run.
Tuesday - 60 minutes (14km)
An hour on my own. My legs did not feel as good today. They were a little less fresh. I went up to Alan's subdivision and did some loops up around that way. Another nice day. I did weights and core in the morning.
Wednesday - workout (20km total)
Tough workout today with plenty of hills. Jeff was with me on most of the pieces, and Max ran really well to stick with us for the second set. I did a double-loop of a hilly course, some hills (at a more relaxed pace), a double-loop, more hills, a double-loop, and a single-loop. I had Jeff to work with for the first two double-loops and the first loop of the third double-loop, but then I was on my own. The second lap of the third repeat was a bit slower, but still a good effort, and I came back well with the final single-looper. I worked hard on this one.
Thursday - 60 minutes (14km)
An easy run on my own. I ran from school to my apartment so that I could pick up my car and make it back to campus for my frisbee team's party, then off to bowling. I saw Greg Wieczorek as I was just finishing up, so I stopped to talk to him for a few minutes. A bit chilly tonight.
Friday - OFF
It was a scheduled rest day. I went to the gym and did core and weights, with ten minutes on the arc trainer (what I used to call the elliptical).
Saturday - 66 minutes (15km)
I slept late and missed the group workout. I ran on my own instead, hoping to get in a substitute for a long run, but I ran out of time to go for as long as I would have liked. It was a cool day. I went down to Springbank, and was planning to loop around for another fifteen minutes in my neighbourhood, but I ran out of time.
Sunday - workout (19km total)
I thought I would try to do the race simulation, but with the moist ground I sensed I would get really discouraged by my splits when running on my own, so I did a fartlek pyramid instead. 5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4-5 minutes hard, with one minute easy between each. It was a good solid effort, but the last two repeats had a couple of slow strides by the end. I did a 25 minute warmup and a 21 minute cooldown. It took a lot out of me.
Total - 98km. Close to three digits. If I included about 4k worth of work on the elliptical, I could call it 102k for the week.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
September 8-14
Monday (12km)
On my own today. I may end up being on my own a lot this term. I had emailed Chris to warn him that I TA on Monday and Tuesday, but did not hear from him and was surprised that he had already gone running when I stopped by his office later. Ran from home for 50 minutes. This was actually at a pretty good pace. Felt stiff, but got through it just fine.
In the morning, I did weights and core, with reduced weight on the back and leg exercises.
Tuesday (14km)
Weights and core in the morning. I was up early and decided to get it done today rather than wait until tomorrow and run heavy for the workout. I thought I saw Deanna Zelinka, but she did not recognize me, possibly because I am so much more interesting now than when I last saw her. I confirmed with Steve later that she is back in town - it was probably her.
Ran on my own in the evening. My legs were actually in pain for the last twenty minutes. I ran down to Runner's Choice and bought a pair of shoes at the one-day sale, left them with Steve, and ran back to campus. It was the run back that hurt a lot. My quads were getting stabbing pains, which I remember having a few times before. They are a sign that I am not fully recovered from Sunday's race. I may need to back off at the workout tomorrow.
Wednesday (workout - 20km total)
This was a tough workout. I did not feel fresh, but felt better than I did yesterday. I have a little pain in the bottom of my left foot and I cannot understand where it came from. I ran up to Weldon Park on my own because I thought Chris and Nathan were driving up again - I had not seen them in several days. Started with about 6k of tempo. I ran my first k in 3:35ish, and backed off to about 3:40 the rest of the way. Had some technique-specific strides, and finished up with 3.5x3 minutes on, 1 minute off. The schedule called for 5, but I quit partway through the fourth because I was really tired. My legs felt absolutely wiped afterwards.
Thursday (14km)
Did some weights in the morning. I feel as though I need a good night's sleep. I am sleeping well, but could go for an extra hour some night.
Ran with Chris in the evening for 58 minutes, going down the bike path past Wellington. We explored a footpath on the north side of the Thames and will probably not do it again - too narrow and footing not great.
Friday (OFF)
I slept late and did not have time for a run before school. It was bad weather in the evening. I decided to take an off day.
Saturday (12km)
50 minutes from home on my own. I went out to the bike path and finished at Ross's apartment to retrieve my car. I had left it there overnight. Did some weights in the afternoon
Sunday (workout - 10km total)
What a terrible run. I did not hear my alarm in the morning and could not make it for the group workout. I tried running on my own, with no success. Did an especially long warmup because my legs did not feel like moving fast. Once I started, I hit my first kilometre in 3:46, and the next in 3:48. At this point, I was already very sweaty and not enjoying myself. I stopped soon afterwards and did a cooldown run home. I thought I would do some more at the gym later to get in some extra aerobic work, but I ran out of time. Not a good day to cap off a poor week.
Total - 82km. A poor week. Add about 8km of work on the elliptical to give me 90k of work this week.
On my own today. I may end up being on my own a lot this term. I had emailed Chris to warn him that I TA on Monday and Tuesday, but did not hear from him and was surprised that he had already gone running when I stopped by his office later. Ran from home for 50 minutes. This was actually at a pretty good pace. Felt stiff, but got through it just fine.
In the morning, I did weights and core, with reduced weight on the back and leg exercises.
Tuesday (14km)
Weights and core in the morning. I was up early and decided to get it done today rather than wait until tomorrow and run heavy for the workout. I thought I saw Deanna Zelinka, but she did not recognize me, possibly because I am so much more interesting now than when I last saw her. I confirmed with Steve later that she is back in town - it was probably her.
Ran on my own in the evening. My legs were actually in pain for the last twenty minutes. I ran down to Runner's Choice and bought a pair of shoes at the one-day sale, left them with Steve, and ran back to campus. It was the run back that hurt a lot. My quads were getting stabbing pains, which I remember having a few times before. They are a sign that I am not fully recovered from Sunday's race. I may need to back off at the workout tomorrow.
Wednesday (workout - 20km total)
This was a tough workout. I did not feel fresh, but felt better than I did yesterday. I have a little pain in the bottom of my left foot and I cannot understand where it came from. I ran up to Weldon Park on my own because I thought Chris and Nathan were driving up again - I had not seen them in several days. Started with about 6k of tempo. I ran my first k in 3:35ish, and backed off to about 3:40 the rest of the way. Had some technique-specific strides, and finished up with 3.5x3 minutes on, 1 minute off. The schedule called for 5, but I quit partway through the fourth because I was really tired. My legs felt absolutely wiped afterwards.
Thursday (14km)
Did some weights in the morning. I feel as though I need a good night's sleep. I am sleeping well, but could go for an extra hour some night.
Ran with Chris in the evening for 58 minutes, going down the bike path past Wellington. We explored a footpath on the north side of the Thames and will probably not do it again - too narrow and footing not great.
Friday (OFF)
I slept late and did not have time for a run before school. It was bad weather in the evening. I decided to take an off day.
Saturday (12km)
50 minutes from home on my own. I went out to the bike path and finished at Ross's apartment to retrieve my car. I had left it there overnight. Did some weights in the afternoon
Sunday (workout - 10km total)
What a terrible run. I did not hear my alarm in the morning and could not make it for the group workout. I tried running on my own, with no success. Did an especially long warmup because my legs did not feel like moving fast. Once I started, I hit my first kilometre in 3:46, and the next in 3:48. At this point, I was already very sweaty and not enjoying myself. I stopped soon afterwards and did a cooldown run home. I thought I would do some more at the gym later to get in some extra aerobic work, but I ran out of time. Not a good day to cap off a poor week.
Total - 82km. A poor week. Add about 8km of work on the elliptical to give me 90k of work this week.
Monday, September 1, 2008
September 1-7
Monday (14km)
Just over 58 minutes with Chris. We went from my apartment through Springbank. His legs were tired, and mine felt as though they had not yet woken up. It was not a great run. Stopped a few times for water - it was humid.
Tuesday (14km)
I got up quite early to use the gym before catching a train to Brockville. I fit in a 64 minute run (not very fast) earlier than usual for me so that we could eat an early dinner. It was hot and humid yet again. My left calf bothered me during the run, so I took it easy. Had a few hills in the run.
Wednesday (14km)
A scheduled workout day, but when I woke up my calf was still bothering me. I decided to do an easy run of 61 minutes rather than risk aggravating my leg further.
Thursday (14km)
58 minutes with Chris on the Brescia trails. My legs felt pretty weary, but I got through it. Did weights and core afterwards.
Friday (OFF)
I took the day off from running entirely. My body felt quite tired today and felt as though I could use a rest.
Saturday (about 8km)
I ran to Gibbons Park and back, and around the park to watch the UWO cross country team's intrasquad race. How I miss it... There was some good running, though as races go there was not much to it. Ryan Armstrong looked like he really wanted to win, and Kyle and Alex both wanted to beat him, but they seemed to realize that they could only in the last mile. It is nice to see how the team will be made up this year.
Sunday (race - 26km total)
A nice half marathon with short warmup and cooldown. It rained the entire race, and for a while afterwards. Steve suggested that Nathan and I do it as a tempo effort, but Nathan went with the leaders from the gun, with me sitting about 15 seconds back at 1km. Greg Wieczorek and a new guy - Graeme Saunders - were with me at that point, but Greg did not like the pace and picked it up at this point. Graeme and I made chitchat for the first 8km, with him running well beside me. We averaged 3:46/km for the first 10km. At 8k, Graeme told me to take off if I wanted to, but I told him that I wanted to stick to that pace for the next 5km, then make a move with 8k to go. He said that sounded good. We were sitting in 9th place at 13k, with Greg and Rod Henning about a hundred metres up, and Tim Wood another 200m on that. It took me about 3km to catch Greg and Rod, and I did not catch Tim for another 3.6km, but I got him. Heading up the hill in the last 1.2k, I realized that I had a chance to catch Michael Chapman as well. I passed him with 600m to go, and kicked in the final 300. Official time of 1:18:00. Not a stellar time, but a great way to run the race. I finished 5th and was happy about that. I do not think the weather affected me all that much. I was aiming for 3:45kms, and I was 1s/km slower than that. If it was not raining it would have been hot, and that would have brought new problems.
Total - 90km, with about 4k extra of elliptical effort. A good week.
Just over 58 minutes with Chris. We went from my apartment through Springbank. His legs were tired, and mine felt as though they had not yet woken up. It was not a great run. Stopped a few times for water - it was humid.
Tuesday (14km)
I got up quite early to use the gym before catching a train to Brockville. I fit in a 64 minute run (not very fast) earlier than usual for me so that we could eat an early dinner. It was hot and humid yet again. My left calf bothered me during the run, so I took it easy. Had a few hills in the run.
Wednesday (14km)
A scheduled workout day, but when I woke up my calf was still bothering me. I decided to do an easy run of 61 minutes rather than risk aggravating my leg further.
Thursday (14km)
58 minutes with Chris on the Brescia trails. My legs felt pretty weary, but I got through it. Did weights and core afterwards.
Friday (OFF)
I took the day off from running entirely. My body felt quite tired today and felt as though I could use a rest.
Saturday (about 8km)
I ran to Gibbons Park and back, and around the park to watch the UWO cross country team's intrasquad race. How I miss it... There was some good running, though as races go there was not much to it. Ryan Armstrong looked like he really wanted to win, and Kyle and Alex both wanted to beat him, but they seemed to realize that they could only in the last mile. It is nice to see how the team will be made up this year.
Sunday (race - 26km total)
A nice half marathon with short warmup and cooldown. It rained the entire race, and for a while afterwards. Steve suggested that Nathan and I do it as a tempo effort, but Nathan went with the leaders from the gun, with me sitting about 15 seconds back at 1km. Greg Wieczorek and a new guy - Graeme Saunders - were with me at that point, but Greg did not like the pace and picked it up at this point. Graeme and I made chitchat for the first 8km, with him running well beside me. We averaged 3:46/km for the first 10km. At 8k, Graeme told me to take off if I wanted to, but I told him that I wanted to stick to that pace for the next 5km, then make a move with 8k to go. He said that sounded good. We were sitting in 9th place at 13k, with Greg and Rod Henning about a hundred metres up, and Tim Wood another 200m on that. It took me about 3km to catch Greg and Rod, and I did not catch Tim for another 3.6km, but I got him. Heading up the hill in the last 1.2k, I realized that I had a chance to catch Michael Chapman as well. I passed him with 600m to go, and kicked in the final 300. Official time of 1:18:00. Not a stellar time, but a great way to run the race. I finished 5th and was happy about that. I do not think the weather affected me all that much. I was aiming for 3:45kms, and I was 1s/km slower than that. If it was not raining it would have been hot, and that would have brought new problems.
Total - 90km, with about 4k extra of elliptical effort. A good week.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
August 25-31
I fell behind on the updates again. The week of August 11-17, I was in Ithaca, New York (and then Brockville and Ottawa) doing barely any running, but learning a lot about science. I ran for a total of 52 minutes that week. The following week was better, but I had to take Monday off from being tired and took my scheduled Friday off. Total mileage would have been about 72km for August 18-24.
Monday (16km)
68 minutes with Nathan, Chris and Adrian. My legs felt reasonably fresh, and I ran the hills on the Brescia trails pretty strongly. I had done a weight and core workout in the morning. It felt hot, though, and I did a lot of sweating.
Tuesday (14km)
60 minutes on my own. I was caught talking to people in my office at 4:20 and did not get out to meet the guys at 4:30. This was a rough one. My legs felt tired, and I was dragging my feet the whole way. I am generously calling this 14k. Saw John Ferguson's group through Gibbons.
Wednesday (workout - 18km total)
Did weights/core in the morning, which might have been a mistake with a workout looming, but at this point in the season, I feel comfortable testing my ability to recover from weights. I will try to go every second day this week (again Friday, and then Sunday afternoon), and continue next week, but will give myself an extra two days off before the half marathon on Sunday the 13th.
The workout in the evening did not go well. I was not tired per se, but my legs felt as if they had no zip to them. I lagged well off the back for the first half of the 15 minute tempo before pulling in Nathan for the final three minutes. Did 6x strides for form well, then struggled through the 3 minute hard/1 minute easy at the end. I am going to stick with the plan of working out every second day for at least one more week, but I will cut back to 3 times a week by mid-September, then twice a week in October. Right now, the fitness is the thing.
Thursday (14km)
62 minutes with Chris. We started late and ran through Gibbons Park. My legs felt really tired for this one, but made it through just fine.
Friday (cross training)
I did 50 minutes on the elliptical rather than go outside today. My legs felt quite tired, so I felt it was a good move to do a lower-impact workout. Still did weights and core work afterwards. When I talk about doing weights, I do very little for my lower body: 1 set of 12 at max on lower back press (which I feel has been the most beneficial of all my weight exercises); 1 set at 80% on groin, and 1 set on outer quads. The rest is upper body. In the past, I have done some additional weight exercises that I have found to really hurt my workouts, but I cut them from the routine.
Saturday (7km)
Just 30 minutes in the morning from my place to Chris's to pick up my car. I then picked up Nathan and drove us out to Steve's workout. I had been asked to take pictures of clubmembers for the newsletter. I got a few good photos. On my run, I got some pinwheels, which means that my blood sugar was low. I bought a cereal bar from a corner store just before picking up Nathan.
Sunday (9km total + cross training)
This was a terrible run. Aimed for 10km at 3:35s, but I finished only 6km, and most of it was slower than goal pace. When I arrived, Nathan was warming up and Chris Nagle was talking to Steve. Nathan got back, ready to go, and I realized that I was the one holding us up. I did an abbreviated warmup (5 minutes) and tried to get into it, but it was not going to work. I experienced some pinwheels in my vision again, and I could feel low on energy for a bit, but even worse, my legs seized up. My right shin and left calf both got tight. It was a struggle just to finish 6km. Hopped in the car to watch the others finish, then did a 2k cooldown. My calf was really cramped. I chalk this one up to the insufficient warmup. There is no reason why I could not have gotten through 8k easily. 10k should have been fine, but I know that I would have had to tough out the last 2k.
In the PM, did some extra fitness work. I went to the gym and started to warmup for a weight and core session, but got drawn in by the baseball and darts on television. I stayed on for a full hour, and set a personal best for distance covered in that time - 4.44 units (whatever that is). Did weights and core afterwards.
Total - 78km running plus the equivalent of about 30km on the elliptical. Workouts are not going well, but I feel that my fitness is pretty good.
Monday (16km)
68 minutes with Nathan, Chris and Adrian. My legs felt reasonably fresh, and I ran the hills on the Brescia trails pretty strongly. I had done a weight and core workout in the morning. It felt hot, though, and I did a lot of sweating.
Tuesday (14km)
60 minutes on my own. I was caught talking to people in my office at 4:20 and did not get out to meet the guys at 4:30. This was a rough one. My legs felt tired, and I was dragging my feet the whole way. I am generously calling this 14k. Saw John Ferguson's group through Gibbons.
Wednesday (workout - 18km total)
Did weights/core in the morning, which might have been a mistake with a workout looming, but at this point in the season, I feel comfortable testing my ability to recover from weights. I will try to go every second day this week (again Friday, and then Sunday afternoon), and continue next week, but will give myself an extra two days off before the half marathon on Sunday the 13th.
The workout in the evening did not go well. I was not tired per se, but my legs felt as if they had no zip to them. I lagged well off the back for the first half of the 15 minute tempo before pulling in Nathan for the final three minutes. Did 6x strides for form well, then struggled through the 3 minute hard/1 minute easy at the end. I am going to stick with the plan of working out every second day for at least one more week, but I will cut back to 3 times a week by mid-September, then twice a week in October. Right now, the fitness is the thing.
Thursday (14km)
62 minutes with Chris. We started late and ran through Gibbons Park. My legs felt really tired for this one, but made it through just fine.
Friday (cross training)
I did 50 minutes on the elliptical rather than go outside today. My legs felt quite tired, so I felt it was a good move to do a lower-impact workout. Still did weights and core work afterwards. When I talk about doing weights, I do very little for my lower body: 1 set of 12 at max on lower back press (which I feel has been the most beneficial of all my weight exercises); 1 set at 80% on groin, and 1 set on outer quads. The rest is upper body. In the past, I have done some additional weight exercises that I have found to really hurt my workouts, but I cut them from the routine.
Saturday (7km)
Just 30 minutes in the morning from my place to Chris's to pick up my car. I then picked up Nathan and drove us out to Steve's workout. I had been asked to take pictures of clubmembers for the newsletter. I got a few good photos. On my run, I got some pinwheels, which means that my blood sugar was low. I bought a cereal bar from a corner store just before picking up Nathan.
Sunday (9km total + cross training)
This was a terrible run. Aimed for 10km at 3:35s, but I finished only 6km, and most of it was slower than goal pace. When I arrived, Nathan was warming up and Chris Nagle was talking to Steve. Nathan got back, ready to go, and I realized that I was the one holding us up. I did an abbreviated warmup (5 minutes) and tried to get into it, but it was not going to work. I experienced some pinwheels in my vision again, and I could feel low on energy for a bit, but even worse, my legs seized up. My right shin and left calf both got tight. It was a struggle just to finish 6km. Hopped in the car to watch the others finish, then did a 2k cooldown. My calf was really cramped. I chalk this one up to the insufficient warmup. There is no reason why I could not have gotten through 8k easily. 10k should have been fine, but I know that I would have had to tough out the last 2k.
In the PM, did some extra fitness work. I went to the gym and started to warmup for a weight and core session, but got drawn in by the baseball and darts on television. I stayed on for a full hour, and set a personal best for distance covered in that time - 4.44 units (whatever that is). Did weights and core afterwards.
Total - 78km running plus the equivalent of about 30km on the elliptical. Workouts are not going well, but I feel that my fitness is pretty good.
Monday, August 4, 2008
August 4 - 10
Monday (10km)
On my own today, down Wonderland onto the bike path, and not quite straight back again. I went up to Springbank Dr. from the bike path just for a little change in scenery. My legs were a bit tired. I had gotten a lot of sun today at the beach and felt a little weary.
Tuesday (14km)
Ran with Chris and Nathan. Nathan was with us for just half an hour, then Chris and I continued to get to the full hour, heading through Gibbons. It was hot, humid, and not fun. We stopped so that I could get water and Chris could use the washroom at TD Waterhouse, and then walked it in from there. My legs felt tired. I had done weights and core in the morning; that might have been the culprit.
Wednesday (14km)
Another hour with Chris and Nathan, who this time joined us for the entire run. We went on the Brescia trails. It was a nicer day for a run than yesterday was. I felt as though I had a little pep in the legs again.
Thursday (14km)
Weights and core in the morning. I am back to my pre-QUBS weight, yet I recently got a comment from someone saying I had lost weight. I do not have a goal weight, but I do not like the feeling of running heavy. I do not want to put on any more weight.
In the afternoon, I ran for an hour on my own from home. I stopped by Chris's office, but he was not in. I went over to the Thames, down to Blackfriars, up through Gibbons on the bikepath to Richmond, then back the same way. I started slowly - legs were tired from the morning weights - but finished quickly. It was more than 14k, but I will round down.
Friday (14km)
This might be 14km rounded up. My legs felt pretty sore this morning. Chris and I went from my apartment to Springbank, around the big loop and back. My quads felt still. The weather was good, though. I sweated a reasonable amount. The Olympics have started!
On my own today, down Wonderland onto the bike path, and not quite straight back again. I went up to Springbank Dr. from the bike path just for a little change in scenery. My legs were a bit tired. I had gotten a lot of sun today at the beach and felt a little weary.
Tuesday (14km)
Ran with Chris and Nathan. Nathan was with us for just half an hour, then Chris and I continued to get to the full hour, heading through Gibbons. It was hot, humid, and not fun. We stopped so that I could get water and Chris could use the washroom at TD Waterhouse, and then walked it in from there. My legs felt tired. I had done weights and core in the morning; that might have been the culprit.
Wednesday (14km)
Another hour with Chris and Nathan, who this time joined us for the entire run. We went on the Brescia trails. It was a nicer day for a run than yesterday was. I felt as though I had a little pep in the legs again.
Thursday (14km)
Weights and core in the morning. I am back to my pre-QUBS weight, yet I recently got a comment from someone saying I had lost weight. I do not have a goal weight, but I do not like the feeling of running heavy. I do not want to put on any more weight.
In the afternoon, I ran for an hour on my own from home. I stopped by Chris's office, but he was not in. I went over to the Thames, down to Blackfriars, up through Gibbons on the bikepath to Richmond, then back the same way. I started slowly - legs were tired from the morning weights - but finished quickly. It was more than 14k, but I will round down.
Friday (14km)
This might be 14km rounded up. My legs felt pretty sore this morning. Chris and I went from my apartment to Springbank, around the big loop and back. My quads felt still. The weather was good, though. I sweated a reasonable amount. The Olympics have started!
Friday, August 1, 2008
July 28 - August 3
Monday (OFF)
One of my last off days before resuming running.
Tuesday (10km)
39 minutes at a stiff pace with Chris. I did not feel as smooth as I did before my break, but I had no trouble keeping up a good pace. We went through Gibbons. I had to dash back for my frisbee game.
Wednesday (OFF)
The final off day off recovery. I did weights and core in the morning.
Thursday (13km)
57 minutes with Chris on the Brescia trails. It was hot. Again, I did not feel all that smooth, but there was never any doubt that I was going to finish.
Friday (OFF)
I slept in, and did a weight workout rather than a run. I planned to run in the evening instead, but there was a massive rainstorm when I became available to run. Oh well.
Saturday (14km)
63 minutes on my own through Gibbons Park and into Ross Park. I noticed that the bike path has been extended through Ross Park. I hope the plan is not to ultimately send it next to the river. I thought I was moving quickly, but it was only 4:16-4:20kms. I did a sprint finish followed by a short jog.
Sunday (19km)
I had a short night last night and did not feel great for this one. Neither did Chris. He asked me to start 13km into his run, and run the final 17 with him. He was not going to bail, he said. I believed him, but even if he did, I figured I could make it a few k beyond where he quit, which would have been good enough for a decent effort. Did a 2km warmup, then sat in the car for 45 minutes before I could warmup again. Fortunately, the goal pace for today was slower than what I was doing previously: 3:55 vs. 3:45. Those 10 seconds per kilometre make a big difference. I was within a couple of seconds for the first few kilometres. At about 20k, Chris realized he was not going to finish, but said he would go as far as he could. I was hoping he could make it to 26k, leaving just 4k for me to do on my own, but it was starting to be clear that he was having trouble. A few times I got two steps on him and had to slow a bit to let him catch up. His 24th km (my 11th) was in 3:59, which was our slowest for the day. He made it another half kilometre before apologizing and dropping out. That km for me was 3:55, then I increased my pace. I went 3:45/3:45/3:40 and had to ask for water. That k was 3:42 (I might have lost 2km to drink the water). I decided to go fairly hard in the final kilometre, but my stomach disagreed. I vomited three times in the final km, still running 3:36. Saturday nights need a better sleep.
Total - 56km. Really easy week. This was about what I was aiming for this week, but with an extra rest day. It was nice to have a good run on Sunday after a week and a half of easy or no running.
One of my last off days before resuming running.
Tuesday (10km)
39 minutes at a stiff pace with Chris. I did not feel as smooth as I did before my break, but I had no trouble keeping up a good pace. We went through Gibbons. I had to dash back for my frisbee game.
Wednesday (OFF)
The final off day off recovery. I did weights and core in the morning.
Thursday (13km)
57 minutes with Chris on the Brescia trails. It was hot. Again, I did not feel all that smooth, but there was never any doubt that I was going to finish.
Friday (OFF)
I slept in, and did a weight workout rather than a run. I planned to run in the evening instead, but there was a massive rainstorm when I became available to run. Oh well.
Saturday (14km)
63 minutes on my own through Gibbons Park and into Ross Park. I noticed that the bike path has been extended through Ross Park. I hope the plan is not to ultimately send it next to the river. I thought I was moving quickly, but it was only 4:16-4:20kms. I did a sprint finish followed by a short jog.
Sunday (19km)
I had a short night last night and did not feel great for this one. Neither did Chris. He asked me to start 13km into his run, and run the final 17 with him. He was not going to bail, he said. I believed him, but even if he did, I figured I could make it a few k beyond where he quit, which would have been good enough for a decent effort. Did a 2km warmup, then sat in the car for 45 minutes before I could warmup again. Fortunately, the goal pace for today was slower than what I was doing previously: 3:55 vs. 3:45. Those 10 seconds per kilometre make a big difference. I was within a couple of seconds for the first few kilometres. At about 20k, Chris realized he was not going to finish, but said he would go as far as he could. I was hoping he could make it to 26k, leaving just 4k for me to do on my own, but it was starting to be clear that he was having trouble. A few times I got two steps on him and had to slow a bit to let him catch up. His 24th km (my 11th) was in 3:59, which was our slowest for the day. He made it another half kilometre before apologizing and dropping out. That km for me was 3:55, then I increased my pace. I went 3:45/3:45/3:40 and had to ask for water. That k was 3:42 (I might have lost 2km to drink the water). I decided to go fairly hard in the final kilometre, but my stomach disagreed. I vomited three times in the final km, still running 3:36. Saturday nights need a better sleep.
Total - 56km. Really easy week. This was about what I was aiming for this week, but with an extra rest day. It was nice to have a good run on Sunday after a week and a half of easy or no running.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Season in retrospect
I decided to give some thoughts on my season. Since Good Friday, I had only 7 races, which included one relay that was more of a time-trial than a race. I did four 5ks, none of which were fast, but I finished with two 1500s that I felt were great. The times were close to what I ran in my last track season in 2004, and I felt as though I had fantastic race tactics. I am certain that if I had another race with solid competition, I would have gone another two seconds faster.
In one of my first track workouts of the year, I said to myself partway through an interval "Wow, how I love the track." It felt great to be racing on the track again. There is something special about running hard for just over four minutes, always with people near you, and then beating them.
What went right? It is hard to say. I felt as though I was in great shape when I left for QUBS, but while I was away, I did only one workout. I ran about five days a week, but had a lot of cross training through swimming. I came back trying to hang on to Nathan and Rob, but I very quickly got my speed back. Running a 400 in 58 seconds felt like a big turning point. It gave me confidence, and helped me control both of my races. Even though I had stopped going to the gym, I felt strong through every interval. Perhaps it is telling that I was able to run good 1500s but struggled with the longer races. I had pretty good aerobic fitness from all the exercise I got at QUBS, yet my results in the 1500 versus the 5ks suggested a 'crash course' in getting into race shape. That was odd.
I think the workouts prepared me very well. As I get older, I find I need more time to warm up properly. Steve often set workouts with short repeats (200m) at the same pace as the longer repeats to come. While other guys were running 1-2 seconds faster than me on these short repeats, by the end of the season I was only a step behind on the longer repeats, running the same pace. In previous years, I might have tried to kill the 200s, then be left tired for the longer repeats, which would be of no benefit to me. I tried to train smarter, asking Steve about the purpose of the workout. If the point of the workout was to run race pace but I felt good, I would still try to run just race pace. If the point of the workout was the run fast, I would run fast.
It was great to finish the season on a high note. I have run well the past two summers. I have not yet decided what to do with my fall racing season, but I am already looking forward to next summer. Next year I want to have a longer track season, and make a serious attack on my 800 and 1500 PBs.
In one of my first track workouts of the year, I said to myself partway through an interval "Wow, how I love the track." It felt great to be racing on the track again. There is something special about running hard for just over four minutes, always with people near you, and then beating them.
What went right? It is hard to say. I felt as though I was in great shape when I left for QUBS, but while I was away, I did only one workout. I ran about five days a week, but had a lot of cross training through swimming. I came back trying to hang on to Nathan and Rob, but I very quickly got my speed back. Running a 400 in 58 seconds felt like a big turning point. It gave me confidence, and helped me control both of my races. Even though I had stopped going to the gym, I felt strong through every interval. Perhaps it is telling that I was able to run good 1500s but struggled with the longer races. I had pretty good aerobic fitness from all the exercise I got at QUBS, yet my results in the 1500 versus the 5ks suggested a 'crash course' in getting into race shape. That was odd.
I think the workouts prepared me very well. As I get older, I find I need more time to warm up properly. Steve often set workouts with short repeats (200m) at the same pace as the longer repeats to come. While other guys were running 1-2 seconds faster than me on these short repeats, by the end of the season I was only a step behind on the longer repeats, running the same pace. In previous years, I might have tried to kill the 200s, then be left tired for the longer repeats, which would be of no benefit to me. I tried to train smarter, asking Steve about the purpose of the workout. If the point of the workout was to run race pace but I felt good, I would still try to run just race pace. If the point of the workout was the run fast, I would run fast.
It was great to finish the season on a high note. I have run well the past two summers. I have not yet decided what to do with my fall racing season, but I am already looking forward to next summer. Next year I want to have a longer track season, and make a serious attack on my 800 and 1500 PBs.
Monday, July 21, 2008
July 21 - 27
This is going to be a very short week running-wise. I have my last race of the summer track season on Wednesday, and after that, I am taking a short break from training. My body feels healthy, but there is no harm in resting.
Monday (12km)
A nice tuning workout at Mother Teresa. Rob Watson was the only other guy doing the workout with me, but Bethany and Katie started with us on the repeats, and Katie was aiming for the same pace. We did 2x200m in 31/32.5 to get the feel of a 64-second pace. Had a good long rest before a 600, aiming for 1:36. We were almost perfect throughout - finishing in about 1:35.5. The last set was 2x300, accelerating every 50m, and 4x50m all-out. I like finishing with the 50s - it makes me feel fast. A pretty good workout - feeling good about the race on Wednesday.
Tuesday (cross training)
Another ultimate frisbee day. We had two games to make up on the schedule, but the second was canceled because of rain. We lost the first game, but it was against a team we should have destroyed. That was disappointing.
Wednesday (race - 12km total)
My final track race of the year - a 1500. Like last time, something happened during the day that made me upset and motivated to prove myself, but I will not elaborate. I was in the second of three sections. I had spectators out for this race - some friends from the Hugh Henry lab - and there were a few people there that I had not seen in a while, including Joe Turner and Nick Thomas (who was in my race). Joe introduced me to the top seed and his coach. I told them that I was aiming to go out in 65s laps, and the top seed's coach said he was probably going to go for 64s. Um, his seed time is 4:05, which is actually slower than 65s. Do they know how to run a 15? From the gun, I sat back in 4th for the first 200 before deciding to take the lead because I sensed the pace was lagging. We hit 400 in 65. I led the entire next lap, feeling strong and relaxed, but I slowed, hitting 800 in 2:11. Where was that guy aiming for 64s? Oh, there he was. He made a move to pass me with 600 to go, and I let him get a step on me on the curve before I pulled up on his shoulder for the straightaway. When we hit the bell (in 3:00), I made a huge surge, gapping him in the first 30m. I sensed my pace was quicker than I could hold for a full lap, so I let up slightly after hitting 1200 in 3:15. I really should have kept the pressure on and just went for it. I was unchallenged the rest of the way, and I won in 4:06.55. I was 0.44s off my personal best from 2004, and I won by 2.44 seconds. I really need a group running 4:01-4:08. I know that I have at least two more seconds in my legs.
Thursday (OFF)
Resting
Friday (OFF)
Resting
Saturday (OFF)
Resting and getting fat.
Sunday (OFF)
I went to the gym for the first time in a couple of months and did 15 minutes on an elliptical, then some weights and core work. It was really quiet at the gym, which was nice.
Total - 24km. Easy week. Resume running next week.
Monday (12km)
A nice tuning workout at Mother Teresa. Rob Watson was the only other guy doing the workout with me, but Bethany and Katie started with us on the repeats, and Katie was aiming for the same pace. We did 2x200m in 31/32.5 to get the feel of a 64-second pace. Had a good long rest before a 600, aiming for 1:36. We were almost perfect throughout - finishing in about 1:35.5. The last set was 2x300, accelerating every 50m, and 4x50m all-out. I like finishing with the 50s - it makes me feel fast. A pretty good workout - feeling good about the race on Wednesday.
Tuesday (cross training)
Another ultimate frisbee day. We had two games to make up on the schedule, but the second was canceled because of rain. We lost the first game, but it was against a team we should have destroyed. That was disappointing.
Wednesday (race - 12km total)
My final track race of the year - a 1500. Like last time, something happened during the day that made me upset and motivated to prove myself, but I will not elaborate. I was in the second of three sections. I had spectators out for this race - some friends from the Hugh Henry lab - and there were a few people there that I had not seen in a while, including Joe Turner and Nick Thomas (who was in my race). Joe introduced me to the top seed and his coach. I told them that I was aiming to go out in 65s laps, and the top seed's coach said he was probably going to go for 64s. Um, his seed time is 4:05, which is actually slower than 65s. Do they know how to run a 15? From the gun, I sat back in 4th for the first 200 before deciding to take the lead because I sensed the pace was lagging. We hit 400 in 65. I led the entire next lap, feeling strong and relaxed, but I slowed, hitting 800 in 2:11. Where was that guy aiming for 64s? Oh, there he was. He made a move to pass me with 600 to go, and I let him get a step on me on the curve before I pulled up on his shoulder for the straightaway. When we hit the bell (in 3:00), I made a huge surge, gapping him in the first 30m. I sensed my pace was quicker than I could hold for a full lap, so I let up slightly after hitting 1200 in 3:15. I really should have kept the pressure on and just went for it. I was unchallenged the rest of the way, and I won in 4:06.55. I was 0.44s off my personal best from 2004, and I won by 2.44 seconds. I really need a group running 4:01-4:08. I know that I have at least two more seconds in my legs.
Thursday (OFF)
Resting
Friday (OFF)
Resting
Saturday (OFF)
Resting and getting fat.
Sunday (OFF)
I went to the gym for the first time in a couple of months and did 15 minutes on an elliptical, then some weights and core work. It was really quiet at the gym, which was nice.
Total - 24km. Easy week. Resume running next week.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
July 14 - 20
So I put the wrong dates on my last blog entry. They are fixed now. I hope that I did not lose a lot of readers because they thought I had not updated my blog in a while.
Monday (workout - 12km total)
A pretty good workout to kick off the week. My legs felt tight today, but I guess I can get through a workout with tight legs - it is dull legs that I struggle through. Started out with a 1200 (in 4:07) trying to help Bethany with her 2k tempo, then had a nice break before starting 4x400 in faster than race pace (63/62/61/62). My first 400, even though it was slower than the others, was my best of the lot. I went out too fast on the other three and positively split from 200 to 400. It is nice to feel the legs move fast, though. Finished up with 4x200m at stride effort, not timing any of them. I felt nice and strong on these. My days have felt really boring, but I have been running with more confidence since my 1500.
Tuesday (13km)
55 minutes with Chris. My legs felt a little tired today, but better than I might have expected after yesterday's workout. We went through Gibbons down to the west branch of the Thames (on the Terry Fox Parkway), turned around and came back. John Ferguson's group was running through Gibbons when we went past the first time, so I got to enjoy saying hello to some familiar faces.
Wednesday (workout - 12km total)
A nice light workout to lead up to my race on Friday. Did 4x300m downhill with a jog recovery, then 4x a 430m loop as a partner relay. I was aiming for tempo effort on the first two, but got into a race with Eric Barry and Ben Procter in the last two. I pulled even with Eric in my last loop, and Chris narrowly outkicked Ben at the end of his loop. The young guys put some fear into us!
Thursday (8km)
An easy 38 minutes with Chris. It was really hot. I did not want to tax myself very much today, with the race looming. I had leg spasms through the day, which is a bit disconcerting. I hope they resolve themselves overnight.
Friday (race - 15km total)
A really hot day, but I felt well-prepared and eager to run a fast time. I jogged down to the start from my apartment, then added on to make sure I was thoroughly warmed up - about 6k running. I got in some good strides. They felt comfortable, but I felt as though I was missing some zip. Even though my left lower leg was giving me problems during the day, I elected to wear my lighter, less supportive shoes in the hopes that I would run a faster time. I was aiming for sub-16 today, but I said that I would be happy with anything under 16:15.
I went out hard, but was sitting in about tenth when we made the turn down the hill, and hit 1k in 3:07. After the water station, I moved up on some more guys, going from 7th at 1k to 5th by 1.5. Looking at the guys in front of me, I knew that Chris Smith and I were going to pick them off. They were starting to struggle. My splits were getting slower, too: 2k in 6:23. I passed Chris at 2.25k and told him we were going to catch the others. I was in third at the turnaround, and got up on the guy in second's shoulder at about 2.8k. He tried to surge on me, but put less than a step on me, and I slowly increased my pace so that I had passed him for good by 3.2k. My 3k was in 9:42 (again, slower). I felt rough heading up the hill out of the park, and Chris caught up to me at the bottom of the Talbot St. hill (about 600 to go). He said that we were clear, but he had nothing left, so I should go ahead. I told him that I was pooched, too, and we should just work on our time. He suggested that we split the prize money, and I said sure. He checked that we were clear just before we crested the hill, and I increased my pace on the finishing straight. I really did not want to be over 16:30, but I was: 16:31. About 15 seconds slower than I realistically thought I would have run today. Chris was another 9 seconds back of me. After giving $25 of my prize to Chris, I got to keep $125 to myself. In the money! Sweet!
I did a 4k cooldown after my massage. The massage therapist really did not work me very hard. I wish I had someone else, but at least she was attractive.
Saturday (14km)
A really slow 63-minute 'junk run'. I had a lot of waste in my legs to clear out. I went from my apartment to the bike path, then up to just beyond Ross Park and turned around to come back. It was bloody hot.
Sunday (18km)
In the race on Saturday, I heard a young boy cheering for Tim about 400m into the race. I shook it off, not thinking it was for me, but he cheered "Go Tim!" again with 400m remaining, and I was the only Tim around. I wonder who it was cheering for me? Who is this mystery fan?
Today I went for 18k, much of that with Chris. It was humid, but much less hot than it was yesterday. It was 78 minutes total running, out on Sarnia and through the subdivisions through Brescia and home.
Total - 92km. A decent week mileage-wise. I was disappointed with my time on Friday, but I'm pleased with second.
Monday (workout - 12km total)
A pretty good workout to kick off the week. My legs felt tight today, but I guess I can get through a workout with tight legs - it is dull legs that I struggle through. Started out with a 1200 (in 4:07) trying to help Bethany with her 2k tempo, then had a nice break before starting 4x400 in faster than race pace (63/62/61/62). My first 400, even though it was slower than the others, was my best of the lot. I went out too fast on the other three and positively split from 200 to 400. It is nice to feel the legs move fast, though. Finished up with 4x200m at stride effort, not timing any of them. I felt nice and strong on these. My days have felt really boring, but I have been running with more confidence since my 1500.
Tuesday (13km)
55 minutes with Chris. My legs felt a little tired today, but better than I might have expected after yesterday's workout. We went through Gibbons down to the west branch of the Thames (on the Terry Fox Parkway), turned around and came back. John Ferguson's group was running through Gibbons when we went past the first time, so I got to enjoy saying hello to some familiar faces.
Wednesday (workout - 12km total)
A nice light workout to lead up to my race on Friday. Did 4x300m downhill with a jog recovery, then 4x a 430m loop as a partner relay. I was aiming for tempo effort on the first two, but got into a race with Eric Barry and Ben Procter in the last two. I pulled even with Eric in my last loop, and Chris narrowly outkicked Ben at the end of his loop. The young guys put some fear into us!
Thursday (8km)
An easy 38 minutes with Chris. It was really hot. I did not want to tax myself very much today, with the race looming. I had leg spasms through the day, which is a bit disconcerting. I hope they resolve themselves overnight.
Friday (race - 15km total)
A really hot day, but I felt well-prepared and eager to run a fast time. I jogged down to the start from my apartment, then added on to make sure I was thoroughly warmed up - about 6k running. I got in some good strides. They felt comfortable, but I felt as though I was missing some zip. Even though my left lower leg was giving me problems during the day, I elected to wear my lighter, less supportive shoes in the hopes that I would run a faster time. I was aiming for sub-16 today, but I said that I would be happy with anything under 16:15.
I went out hard, but was sitting in about tenth when we made the turn down the hill, and hit 1k in 3:07. After the water station, I moved up on some more guys, going from 7th at 1k to 5th by 1.5. Looking at the guys in front of me, I knew that Chris Smith and I were going to pick them off. They were starting to struggle. My splits were getting slower, too: 2k in 6:23. I passed Chris at 2.25k and told him we were going to catch the others. I was in third at the turnaround, and got up on the guy in second's shoulder at about 2.8k. He tried to surge on me, but put less than a step on me, and I slowly increased my pace so that I had passed him for good by 3.2k. My 3k was in 9:42 (again, slower). I felt rough heading up the hill out of the park, and Chris caught up to me at the bottom of the Talbot St. hill (about 600 to go). He said that we were clear, but he had nothing left, so I should go ahead. I told him that I was pooched, too, and we should just work on our time. He suggested that we split the prize money, and I said sure. He checked that we were clear just before we crested the hill, and I increased my pace on the finishing straight. I really did not want to be over 16:30, but I was: 16:31. About 15 seconds slower than I realistically thought I would have run today. Chris was another 9 seconds back of me. After giving $25 of my prize to Chris, I got to keep $125 to myself. In the money! Sweet!
I did a 4k cooldown after my massage. The massage therapist really did not work me very hard. I wish I had someone else, but at least she was attractive.
Saturday (14km)
A really slow 63-minute 'junk run'. I had a lot of waste in my legs to clear out. I went from my apartment to the bike path, then up to just beyond Ross Park and turned around to come back. It was bloody hot.
Sunday (18km)
In the race on Saturday, I heard a young boy cheering for Tim about 400m into the race. I shook it off, not thinking it was for me, but he cheered "Go Tim!" again with 400m remaining, and I was the only Tim around. I wonder who it was cheering for me? Who is this mystery fan?
Today I went for 18k, much of that with Chris. It was humid, but much less hot than it was yesterday. It was 78 minutes total running, out on Sarnia and through the subdivisions through Brescia and home.
Total - 92km. A decent week mileage-wise. I was disappointed with my time on Friday, but I'm pleased with second.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
July 7 - 13
Monday (workout - 11km)
This was a nice tuning workout, but I had a lot of trouble getting my legs to find the right pace. I was aiming for 2x400 in 66, but I hit the first 200 in 34 and had to pick it up to get to 67. On the second, I went through 200 in just over 31, and slowed to hit 66. We had a good long recovery before running a 400 at 95%. I ran it in 58, which I was quite happy about - I believe it was my fastest 400 in three years. Finished up with 6x50m all-out. That was satisfying. On the first four, I felt as though I could have been a sprinter, but I was not as quick on the final two. I did not bother to time these.
Tuesday (cross training)
I had two ultimate frisbee games scheduled for tonight, so my only dedicated 'run' was the jog over from my office to the fields (call it a kilometre) Partway through the first game, we were delayed because of lightning, and it was ultimately postponed because of heavy rain. I had not got a lot of exercise today, but it felt like a fine light workout. My hamstrings felt especially sore after yesterday's hard 400. I rested up for the race tomorrow.
Wednesday (1500m race; 12km total)
Such a great race! I was reminded why I love the track so much. I had been having a lousy day, so I left school twenty minutes early to rest and fuel up before my race at 8:30. I had an oatmeal bar at 5:30, Gatorade to wash it down, and a can of Ensure half an hour later. I jogged over to the track at 7:40, then added on a bit to get to about 6k of warmup. On my run over, a guy approached me orthogonally and looked like he was going to mock me. Just before he had a chance to do anything I turned to him, stopped, and firmly asked "What are you doing?" He flinched and said "Running." "Sure..." I replied, and started to run again. When I was 30m off, they called some derogatory things after me. What douches. The incident made me feel tough, though, which was a good thing heading into a race.
I was in the second-slowest section, seeded at 4:10. I had not done a 1500m race since 2004; in fact, I do not think I had competed in an individual track race at any distance since 2004. I thought any time between 4:10 and 4:20 today would be acceptable. When the gun went off, I let myself settle into the middle of a pack. The leaders hit 200 in 31-high, with me about a second back, in fifth place. The leaders hit 400 in 64 seconds, which was faster than any of them thought they could run for the whole race (I was the fastest seed). I was two seconds back, in 66. I let them lead us through the next lap. At 700, someone made a move to take the lead, which allowed me to tuck behind someone on the rail for the curve. The leaders hit 2:12 for 800, representing a big slowdown for them, and I was 2:13, which was fairly even. I was no longer comfortable sitting and waiting, so I moved up on the outside, unsure of where I wanted to settle in: second for the curve (in which case I would have to slow down from my surge), or to take the lead (in which case I would have to speed up just a bit more). I decided to take the lead. I felt awesome being in the lead on the main straightaway, and hit 1200 in 3:18 (a slight increase in pace). I felt myself slow a bit on the backstretch as I ran into the wind, but I still felt strong, and I sensed I was clear of the field. I needed to motivate myself to hit a good time. In the final 200, I picked up the pace again and hit the line in 4:08.95. It was exhilarating to run away from the field like that. I know I had more in my legs, and could even challenge my 4:06.11 PB, but I am happy I had a race like this with people I felt I could run with so that I could work on my race tactics. This is exactly how I like to run a 1500. I was delighted.
Thursday (13km)
56 minutes with Chris. My stomach was giving me trouble again, so I was pretty slow in the last fifteen minutes. My legs were tired today. It was not that fun a run.
Friday (OFF)
A scheduled day off. I took it.
Saturday (workout; 12km total)
A pretty good track workout. Much of it was at my 1500 goal pace, but I also had some work faster than goal pace. Did 3x200m in 30-32, followed by 500 in about 77; which was half of what Rob Watson did; I was trying to pace him to a 2:33 kilometre. That felt good; I felt strong throughout. Then did 3 sets of 300/200, with a 30 second rest between the 300 and the 200, with the 300 at goal pace, the 200 faster than that. I felt quite tired after that, but still did 6x150m accels. My last two were rough - I was wheezing. It was nice to start the workout later than usual for a Saturday (10am versus 8:30), but it was quite humid by the end. I went through all my water by the time I had finished.
Sunday (16km)
An easy 70 minutes on my own. I went up Wonderland to the Brescia trails, then came back along Western Road, adding on in my neighbourhood to get to 70. My legs felt quite tired from yesterday. I was sleepy tired all day because I had not gotten enough sleep - I was up early to watch Chris's run and help Steve time.
Total - 65km. A low mileage week. I meant to get more in on Tuesday, but it did not happen. My race was the big highlight and left me feeling optimistic for the race next Friday (5k downtown) and for the 1500 the following Wednesday to finish up the track season.
This was a nice tuning workout, but I had a lot of trouble getting my legs to find the right pace. I was aiming for 2x400 in 66, but I hit the first 200 in 34 and had to pick it up to get to 67. On the second, I went through 200 in just over 31, and slowed to hit 66. We had a good long recovery before running a 400 at 95%. I ran it in 58, which I was quite happy about - I believe it was my fastest 400 in three years. Finished up with 6x50m all-out. That was satisfying. On the first four, I felt as though I could have been a sprinter, but I was not as quick on the final two. I did not bother to time these.
Tuesday (cross training)
I had two ultimate frisbee games scheduled for tonight, so my only dedicated 'run' was the jog over from my office to the fields (call it a kilometre) Partway through the first game, we were delayed because of lightning, and it was ultimately postponed because of heavy rain. I had not got a lot of exercise today, but it felt like a fine light workout. My hamstrings felt especially sore after yesterday's hard 400. I rested up for the race tomorrow.
Wednesday (1500m race; 12km total)
Such a great race! I was reminded why I love the track so much. I had been having a lousy day, so I left school twenty minutes early to rest and fuel up before my race at 8:30. I had an oatmeal bar at 5:30, Gatorade to wash it down, and a can of Ensure half an hour later. I jogged over to the track at 7:40, then added on a bit to get to about 6k of warmup. On my run over, a guy approached me orthogonally and looked like he was going to mock me. Just before he had a chance to do anything I turned to him, stopped, and firmly asked "What are you doing?" He flinched and said "Running." "Sure..." I replied, and started to run again. When I was 30m off, they called some derogatory things after me. What douches. The incident made me feel tough, though, which was a good thing heading into a race.
I was in the second-slowest section, seeded at 4:10. I had not done a 1500m race since 2004; in fact, I do not think I had competed in an individual track race at any distance since 2004. I thought any time between 4:10 and 4:20 today would be acceptable. When the gun went off, I let myself settle into the middle of a pack. The leaders hit 200 in 31-high, with me about a second back, in fifth place. The leaders hit 400 in 64 seconds, which was faster than any of them thought they could run for the whole race (I was the fastest seed). I was two seconds back, in 66. I let them lead us through the next lap. At 700, someone made a move to take the lead, which allowed me to tuck behind someone on the rail for the curve. The leaders hit 2:12 for 800, representing a big slowdown for them, and I was 2:13, which was fairly even. I was no longer comfortable sitting and waiting, so I moved up on the outside, unsure of where I wanted to settle in: second for the curve (in which case I would have to slow down from my surge), or to take the lead (in which case I would have to speed up just a bit more). I decided to take the lead. I felt awesome being in the lead on the main straightaway, and hit 1200 in 3:18 (a slight increase in pace). I felt myself slow a bit on the backstretch as I ran into the wind, but I still felt strong, and I sensed I was clear of the field. I needed to motivate myself to hit a good time. In the final 200, I picked up the pace again and hit the line in 4:08.95. It was exhilarating to run away from the field like that. I know I had more in my legs, and could even challenge my 4:06.11 PB, but I am happy I had a race like this with people I felt I could run with so that I could work on my race tactics. This is exactly how I like to run a 1500. I was delighted.
Thursday (13km)
56 minutes with Chris. My stomach was giving me trouble again, so I was pretty slow in the last fifteen minutes. My legs were tired today. It was not that fun a run.
Friday (OFF)
A scheduled day off. I took it.
Saturday (workout; 12km total)
A pretty good track workout. Much of it was at my 1500 goal pace, but I also had some work faster than goal pace. Did 3x200m in 30-32, followed by 500 in about 77; which was half of what Rob Watson did; I was trying to pace him to a 2:33 kilometre. That felt good; I felt strong throughout. Then did 3 sets of 300/200, with a 30 second rest between the 300 and the 200, with the 300 at goal pace, the 200 faster than that. I felt quite tired after that, but still did 6x150m accels. My last two were rough - I was wheezing. It was nice to start the workout later than usual for a Saturday (10am versus 8:30), but it was quite humid by the end. I went through all my water by the time I had finished.
Sunday (16km)
An easy 70 minutes on my own. I went up Wonderland to the Brescia trails, then came back along Western Road, adding on in my neighbourhood to get to 70. My legs felt quite tired from yesterday. I was sleepy tired all day because I had not gotten enough sleep - I was up early to watch Chris's run and help Steve time.
Total - 65km. A low mileage week. I meant to get more in on Tuesday, but it did not happen. My race was the big highlight and left me feeling optimistic for the race next Friday (5k downtown) and for the 1500 the following Wednesday to finish up the track season.
Monday, July 7, 2008
June 30 - July 6
Monday (7km)
A long day spent in the car traveling to Brockville. I arrived just early enough that I could fit in a 30 minute run before dinner. My legs felt sore and tight from the drive, so this was a pretty slow shakeout.
Tuesday (race - 16km total)
I did a nice long warmup and an extended cooldown to give me 16k for the day. The race did not go as well as planned. I took the early lead, but was passed within a half kilometre. At about 900m, I knew I was racing for time: Kevin Beatty was not coming back to me. My legs still felt unhappy. My hips were tight, as if my whole body was swinging when I took a stride. I had enough left at the finish for a decent kick, finishing in 16:51. I had hit the turnaround halfway in 8:16, so this was a terrible positive split. I was unhappy that I had traveled this far for a bad race.
Footnote: my picture made the front page of the Brockville newspaper's sports section. The article said that I was "easily outdistanced" by Kevin Beatty, which is true but still humiliating.
Wednesday (OFF)
I thought I would run in the evening, but my legs were still unhappy from the long drives and the race. I decided to rest and try to make up for the missed miles by adding on later in the week.
Thursday (19km total)
I tried to double today. It felt good.
AM - I did 30 minutes before school, not at any fast pace, but something to get the legs shaken out and to boost my miles for the week.
PM - 54 minutes, much of it on the bike path. I felt great. Kicked in the last three kilometres. It was a bit hot.
Friday (OFF)
I realized that yesterday was a huge mistake. My legs felt dead - worse than after my big run to Elgin at the end of the field season. I chalked that up to the shortened recovery, but it made me wonder how I was able to do three races within 24h at the end of May?
Saturday (workout - 11km)
This was good as just my second track workout back. Jamie, Rob and I ran it - Rob did an 800 where Jamie and I did a 400, and Rob ran 6 x 300 where I ran 5 and a 200 instead of the final 300. Jamie did three 300s at a faster pace. Did 3x200 in 31-32, then a 400 in 62, and finished with 5x300 starting at 51 and cutting down about a second for each until I did my last in 46 and finished with a 200 in 30. This was all right.
Sunday (17km)
A long run (71 minutes) with Chris Smith. It was not all that fast. I was feeling sore from yesterday's workout and a late night without a lot of sleep. It was a hot one, so I felt pretty dehydrated afterwards and needed a lot of water to recover.
Total - 70km. From this week I learned that I am not ready to try to make up miles by doubling. I am better off running longer warmups, cooldowns, and adding an extra kilometre or two to each run during the week.
A long day spent in the car traveling to Brockville. I arrived just early enough that I could fit in a 30 minute run before dinner. My legs felt sore and tight from the drive, so this was a pretty slow shakeout.
Tuesday (race - 16km total)
I did a nice long warmup and an extended cooldown to give me 16k for the day. The race did not go as well as planned. I took the early lead, but was passed within a half kilometre. At about 900m, I knew I was racing for time: Kevin Beatty was not coming back to me. My legs still felt unhappy. My hips were tight, as if my whole body was swinging when I took a stride. I had enough left at the finish for a decent kick, finishing in 16:51. I had hit the turnaround halfway in 8:16, so this was a terrible positive split. I was unhappy that I had traveled this far for a bad race.
Footnote: my picture made the front page of the Brockville newspaper's sports section. The article said that I was "easily outdistanced" by Kevin Beatty, which is true but still humiliating.
Wednesday (OFF)
I thought I would run in the evening, but my legs were still unhappy from the long drives and the race. I decided to rest and try to make up for the missed miles by adding on later in the week.
Thursday (19km total)
I tried to double today. It felt good.
AM - I did 30 minutes before school, not at any fast pace, but something to get the legs shaken out and to boost my miles for the week.
PM - 54 minutes, much of it on the bike path. I felt great. Kicked in the last three kilometres. It was a bit hot.
Friday (OFF)
I realized that yesterday was a huge mistake. My legs felt dead - worse than after my big run to Elgin at the end of the field season. I chalked that up to the shortened recovery, but it made me wonder how I was able to do three races within 24h at the end of May?
Saturday (workout - 11km)
This was good as just my second track workout back. Jamie, Rob and I ran it - Rob did an 800 where Jamie and I did a 400, and Rob ran 6 x 300 where I ran 5 and a 200 instead of the final 300. Jamie did three 300s at a faster pace. Did 3x200 in 31-32, then a 400 in 62, and finished with 5x300 starting at 51 and cutting down about a second for each until I did my last in 46 and finished with a 200 in 30. This was all right.
Sunday (17km)
A long run (71 minutes) with Chris Smith. It was not all that fast. I was feeling sore from yesterday's workout and a late night without a lot of sleep. It was a hot one, so I felt pretty dehydrated afterwards and needed a lot of water to recover.
Total - 70km. From this week I learned that I am not ready to try to make up miles by doubling. I am better off running longer warmups, cooldowns, and adding an extra kilometre or two to each run during the week.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
June 23-29
Monday (10km)
There were some fantastic race results from this weekend that made me really want to roll: Taylor Milne's 3:36 1500 (and the other Canadians in that race), and Adrian Walton's 14:23 5k. Unfortunately, I did not have time to do as much as I wanted. I went out for 21 minutes at a good pace and came back in 18. My final mile was in 5:30, which is pretty good, but I wanted to go faster.
Tuesday (26km)
I decided to do my end-of-the-field season run into Elgin, which generally takes me around 1:55 to do. I meant to look up my times from previous years. I tried to go out at a nice, easy pace, but my first mile was under 6:10. I went on the Cataraqui trail until I hit Highway 15, then went into Elgin on Perth Road, did a loop of the grocery store's parking lot, and turned around and came back. I did not check my watch at halfway, but it would have been about 55:20. I was pretty close to even on the way back, though a bit slower. I ran an extra hundred metres to get to the diving board; total length of the run was 1:51:19. My two halves were pretty even, but if we looked at thirds, they would not have been. My middle third was the fastest. It was nice to get this out of the way. I felt tired from 18-22k, probably because I have been skimping on my long runs.
Wednesday (10km)
This was a true junk run, meaning that it was slow and just to get the junk out of my legs. I went at a plodding pace out on the Cataraqui Trail to where it forks to the left and right, then ran to the right, and crossed over to the trail on the left side. Finished at the diving board. This one was tough.
Thursday (OFF)
We left QUBS to head back to London at 10:10 and I did not get back home until 6, after unloading Kristin and some items at the school. After that long in the car, the heavy rain was enough reason for me to take the day off and get a decent meal instead.
Friday (14km)
Ran with Nathan and Kyle from Bob's office. We went south on the bike path through Gibbons. It was a hot, humid day, so we stopped for water twice, but it felt fine.
Saturday (workout - 13km total)
Steve cut back my mileage, which was nice. I did 3x400 with the first 200 in 33-34, the second in about 30. Nathan and Rob went another 200 on those, so I had a long recovery. Then did 3x400 with a shorter recovery in 67/62/60. I was happy with the last two 400s. As we went out on our cooldown, we saw Kurt Benninger arrive at the track. Chris Nagle and I grabbed something to eat at a nearby Tim Horton's and came back to watch his workout. Impressive, but only a bit more mileage than what I did: 3x600, then 4x200. Of course, they were all faster than mine.
Sunday (17km)
A nice 73 minutes with Chris and Nathan. I drove up to Chris's, then we ran down Richmond to meet Nathan. Went out on the Adelaide trails. We were dumped on for about half an hour, but it cleared up nicely. My calves were sore from yesterday's track workout.
Total - 90km. This was a better week. If I can lose my day off, my mileage will be where it should be.
There were some fantastic race results from this weekend that made me really want to roll: Taylor Milne's 3:36 1500 (and the other Canadians in that race), and Adrian Walton's 14:23 5k. Unfortunately, I did not have time to do as much as I wanted. I went out for 21 minutes at a good pace and came back in 18. My final mile was in 5:30, which is pretty good, but I wanted to go faster.
Tuesday (26km)
I decided to do my end-of-the-field season run into Elgin, which generally takes me around 1:55 to do. I meant to look up my times from previous years. I tried to go out at a nice, easy pace, but my first mile was under 6:10. I went on the Cataraqui trail until I hit Highway 15, then went into Elgin on Perth Road, did a loop of the grocery store's parking lot, and turned around and came back. I did not check my watch at halfway, but it would have been about 55:20. I was pretty close to even on the way back, though a bit slower. I ran an extra hundred metres to get to the diving board; total length of the run was 1:51:19. My two halves were pretty even, but if we looked at thirds, they would not have been. My middle third was the fastest. It was nice to get this out of the way. I felt tired from 18-22k, probably because I have been skimping on my long runs.
Wednesday (10km)
This was a true junk run, meaning that it was slow and just to get the junk out of my legs. I went at a plodding pace out on the Cataraqui Trail to where it forks to the left and right, then ran to the right, and crossed over to the trail on the left side. Finished at the diving board. This one was tough.
Thursday (OFF)
We left QUBS to head back to London at 10:10 and I did not get back home until 6, after unloading Kristin and some items at the school. After that long in the car, the heavy rain was enough reason for me to take the day off and get a decent meal instead.
Friday (14km)
Ran with Nathan and Kyle from Bob's office. We went south on the bike path through Gibbons. It was a hot, humid day, so we stopped for water twice, but it felt fine.
Saturday (workout - 13km total)
Steve cut back my mileage, which was nice. I did 3x400 with the first 200 in 33-34, the second in about 30. Nathan and Rob went another 200 on those, so I had a long recovery. Then did 3x400 with a shorter recovery in 67/62/60. I was happy with the last two 400s. As we went out on our cooldown, we saw Kurt Benninger arrive at the track. Chris Nagle and I grabbed something to eat at a nearby Tim Horton's and came back to watch his workout. Impressive, but only a bit more mileage than what I did: 3x600, then 4x200. Of course, they were all faster than mine.
Sunday (17km)
A nice 73 minutes with Chris and Nathan. I drove up to Chris's, then we ran down Richmond to meet Nathan. Went out on the Adelaide trails. We were dumped on for about half an hour, but it cleared up nicely. My calves were sore from yesterday's track workout.
Total - 90km. This was a better week. If I can lose my day off, my mileage will be where it should be.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
June 16-22
Monday (9km)
Easy 41 minutes. My legs felt dead. I think I was really tired from the last couple of days, plus I have some allergies kicking, possibly from all the pollen in the lake.
Tuesday (10km)
42 minutes. I was full of adrenaline for this one - I spent all day trying to figure out customs procedures to get guppies shipped to me in Canada. I finally got it sorted out and was able to fit in a quick 10k before driving off to Toronto to get the fish.
Wednesday (14km)
57 minutes with Chris, from my apartment to Springbank and back. I had driven my guppies to London and was in town for just a short period. I did not tell anyone that I was back, just a few people saw me and knew. I was sleepy tired for this one.
Thursday (OFF)
Travelled back from London. I should have tried to fit in a run, but I didn't. I suck.
Friday (OFF)
Golfed all day. I thought I would have time to fit in a run afterwards, but I did not get back from the course until 4:30, when my friend arrived to go fishing. Too bad.
Saturday (14km)
A good 61 minutes from the lodge on the road through Chaffey's Lock, and up Marina Road to the marina (I didn't know there was one up there... imagine!) I came back the same way, pushing a bit in the final mile. My left knee is bugging me a bit, but otherwise I felt surprisingly strong.
Sunday (14km)
Not such a good run. I did 40 minutes on the Cataraqui trail to the east, and had to move a fish around in my aquarium room before I could add on another 19 minutes to get to 59. I felt tired for the second part. This was a morning run, and I was quite hungry afterwards. I needed a little something before starting, I think.
Total - 61km. Low, but at least the last two days were a good sign. I have plans to do my annual long run from the station to Elgin and back on Wednesday, and I will be back in London on Thursday. It has been a good field season, but I am now ready to get home.
Easy 41 minutes. My legs felt dead. I think I was really tired from the last couple of days, plus I have some allergies kicking, possibly from all the pollen in the lake.
Tuesday (10km)
42 minutes. I was full of adrenaline for this one - I spent all day trying to figure out customs procedures to get guppies shipped to me in Canada. I finally got it sorted out and was able to fit in a quick 10k before driving off to Toronto to get the fish.
Wednesday (14km)
57 minutes with Chris, from my apartment to Springbank and back. I had driven my guppies to London and was in town for just a short period. I did not tell anyone that I was back, just a few people saw me and knew. I was sleepy tired for this one.
Thursday (OFF)
Travelled back from London. I should have tried to fit in a run, but I didn't. I suck.
Friday (OFF)
Golfed all day. I thought I would have time to fit in a run afterwards, but I did not get back from the course until 4:30, when my friend arrived to go fishing. Too bad.
Saturday (14km)
A good 61 minutes from the lodge on the road through Chaffey's Lock, and up Marina Road to the marina (I didn't know there was one up there... imagine!) I came back the same way, pushing a bit in the final mile. My left knee is bugging me a bit, but otherwise I felt surprisingly strong.
Sunday (14km)
Not such a good run. I did 40 minutes on the Cataraqui trail to the east, and had to move a fish around in my aquarium room before I could add on another 19 minutes to get to 59. I felt tired for the second part. This was a morning run, and I was quite hungry afterwards. I needed a little something before starting, I think.
Total - 61km. Low, but at least the last two days were a good sign. I have plans to do my annual long run from the station to Elgin and back on Wednesday, and I will be back in London on Thursday. It has been a good field season, but I am now ready to get home.
June 9-15
Monday (14km)
Went for an hour to the east, down the Cataraqui trail. It was a pleasant run, with a slight negative split on the way back.
Tuesday (15km)
Ran west down the Cataraqui trail and went down the hiking trail. I got lost partway through and had to run a big negative split to get back in time for the 6:30 dinner.
Wednesday (OFF)
Yet another fish spawning day with collections and no run. Missing four days out of seven is not my idea of a good training regime. This was another tough colony with a lot of diving. We had only one easy colony all season. The good news is that one more collection day should finish us off.
Thursday (14km)
Went to Brockville to do a run and avoid the lousy dinner at QUBS. This run did not go very well. I had ice cream two hours before my run, and it just did not sit well. I had to make a stop after 35 minutes to use the washroom. Ran fine after that, though.
Friday (workout - 11km total)
A pretty simple workout that I could do by myself. This one did not go well. I was aiming for 8x1 minute hard, 1 minute easy. We had chili for lunch, and in my recovery after the first interval, I made a mess in my shorts. My recovery after that first one was a little long. I did quite well on the remaining repeats, though I was checking my watch earlier and earlier over the last few repeats. It was an uncomfortable run back to the station - I rushed my cooldown so that I could get cleaned up before dinner.
Saturday (OFF)
The final collection day of the summer. This was the second easiest colony I collected from this summer, but it was still difficult - very silty, making it impossible to target a fish from the surface. I would have to dive to find fish, then try to catch it. I had done an hour of swimming in the morning, then had two and a half hours of fish collection in the afternoon. I was too tired to run.
Sunday (3km)
I wanted to do a long run, but got distracted and did not leave until I had very little time left to catch dinner. I tried to make the most of it by running to from the lodge to the gates at the top of the road and back in as fast a time as possible. There was little warmup, so I am satisfied with my 10:05 time. It is about a mile each way, and slightly easier on the way back (I negative split). This would be a good time trial for me if I allowed myself a proper warmup and cooldown.
Total - 57km. Better than last week, but still had two days off (and one very light day).
Went for an hour to the east, down the Cataraqui trail. It was a pleasant run, with a slight negative split on the way back.
Tuesday (15km)
Ran west down the Cataraqui trail and went down the hiking trail. I got lost partway through and had to run a big negative split to get back in time for the 6:30 dinner.
Wednesday (OFF)
Yet another fish spawning day with collections and no run. Missing four days out of seven is not my idea of a good training regime. This was another tough colony with a lot of diving. We had only one easy colony all season. The good news is that one more collection day should finish us off.
Thursday (14km)
Went to Brockville to do a run and avoid the lousy dinner at QUBS. This run did not go very well. I had ice cream two hours before my run, and it just did not sit well. I had to make a stop after 35 minutes to use the washroom. Ran fine after that, though.
Friday (workout - 11km total)
A pretty simple workout that I could do by myself. This one did not go well. I was aiming for 8x1 minute hard, 1 minute easy. We had chili for lunch, and in my recovery after the first interval, I made a mess in my shorts. My recovery after that first one was a little long. I did quite well on the remaining repeats, though I was checking my watch earlier and earlier over the last few repeats. It was an uncomfortable run back to the station - I rushed my cooldown so that I could get cleaned up before dinner.
Saturday (OFF)
The final collection day of the summer. This was the second easiest colony I collected from this summer, but it was still difficult - very silty, making it impossible to target a fish from the surface. I would have to dive to find fish, then try to catch it. I had done an hour of swimming in the morning, then had two and a half hours of fish collection in the afternoon. I was too tired to run.
Sunday (3km)
I wanted to do a long run, but got distracted and did not leave until I had very little time left to catch dinner. I tried to make the most of it by running to from the lodge to the gates at the top of the road and back in as fast a time as possible. There was little warmup, so I am satisfied with my 10:05 time. It is about a mile each way, and slightly easier on the way back (I negative split). This would be a good time trial for me if I allowed myself a proper warmup and cooldown.
Total - 57km. Better than last week, but still had two days off (and one very light day).
June 2-8
I have been at the Queen's University Biological station since June 1, and have been negligent in updating my running blog. I give only brief descriptions of my training below. I was feeling really tired after Shore-to-Shore, and it took me almost two weeks to feel ready to do a workout again. I study fish up here. For the first 14 days, we swam every day for at least an hour (slowly, in wetsuit and flippers), and on 5 days in particular, I collected fish for 2-4 hours, diving 6-10 feet, holding my breath and chasing fish underwater. Those collection days were not running-specific workouts, but did a good job of taxing my anaerobic fitness. I was often too exhausted to do any running on those days.
Monday (12km)
Pretty quick 52 minutes. Still feel like plugging along at Shore-to-Shore pace. On the Cataraqui Trail.
Tuesday (10km)
41 minutes at a quick pace. My legs felt sore, but I pushed through it.
Wednesday (14km)
West on the Cataraqui trail to the hiking path. Went for 60 minutes, with a slight negative split.
Thursday (OFF)
Saw bluegill spawning in the morning. Collected fish for about two hours in 8-10 feet of water. It was really exhausting; I took the day off running.
Friday (10km)
Really hot day. I went for 45 minutes and am calling it 10k.
Saturday (OFF)
Another fish collection day. This was a really long work day - I swam and collected fish in the morning (about three hours of swimming, total), then was involved in collections (on the dock) in the afternoon and did crosses after dinner. Finished around 9:30 too tired to run.
Sunday (OFF)
Yet another fish collection day. This was the first time I have had to collect fish on three out of four days in my five years at QUBS. Yesterday's colony was fairly easy to work on, but this one was tough. I was exhausted afterwards.
Total - 46km. A really low-mileage week. Three days off to collect fish was tough, but I felt as though I was getting a workout.
Monday (12km)
Pretty quick 52 minutes. Still feel like plugging along at Shore-to-Shore pace. On the Cataraqui Trail.
Tuesday (10km)
41 minutes at a quick pace. My legs felt sore, but I pushed through it.
Wednesday (14km)
West on the Cataraqui trail to the hiking path. Went for 60 minutes, with a slight negative split.
Thursday (OFF)
Saw bluegill spawning in the morning. Collected fish for about two hours in 8-10 feet of water. It was really exhausting; I took the day off running.
Friday (10km)
Really hot day. I went for 45 minutes and am calling it 10k.
Saturday (OFF)
Another fish collection day. This was a really long work day - I swam and collected fish in the morning (about three hours of swimming, total), then was involved in collections (on the dock) in the afternoon and did crosses after dinner. Finished around 9:30 too tired to run.
Sunday (OFF)
Yet another fish collection day. This was the first time I have had to collect fish on three out of four days in my five years at QUBS. Yesterday's colony was fairly easy to work on, but this one was tough. I was exhausted afterwards.
Total - 46km. A really low-mileage week. Three days off to collect fish was tough, but I felt as though I was getting a workout.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
May 26 - June 1
Monday (13km)
I thought I'd feel really rested today, but my body felt tired. It was especially hot, which did not help. Nathan, Chris and I went out for 28 minutes and came back in less - total time was 55 minutes. We went on the Brescia trails. It bothered me that Chris and Nathan were both confrontational with a pair of dog owners, one who had her dog off the leash - I just said nothing.
Tuesday (off)
I was planning to run today but took it off instead so that I could go to a group meeting where I was not sweaty and underdressed. The day off also meant that I was full of energy for ultimate frisbee.
Wednesday (workout - 13km total)
Not a bad workout. Pretty low volume, but good quality, which is nice to have before my big race weekend. Did 3 sets of (2x300m), with 30 seconds between the first and second 300, and 4 minutes between sets. Finished up with 8x150m accelerations, which was some nice quality to finish. My 300s were all in 47.5, with the exception of the fifth, which was in 48.4. Nathan, Rob and Jamie were able to blast away from me on these, but I was happy just to hit my goal pace.
Thursday (14km)
I ran down to the Budget rent-a-car on York St., and ran back. I had to get my name on the insurance for the van for Shore-to-Shore this weekend. Pretty uneventful run. My legs were a bit sore from yesterday, so I took it easy. 61 minutes in total.
Friday (2 races, 23km running in total)
The Shore-to-Shore relay. I was second out of 12 in the rotation, meaning that I ran at 10:40am and 7:30pm on Friday, and 5:40am on Saturday. My first leg was the longest of the whole event, 14.3km. I got the handoff 1:45 down on the leaders, and quickly made up ground. I brought Greg into view by 6km, and by 11km was about 12 seconds back. I had worked hard to close the gap, though, and could not run the final hills (it was a hilly course overall) as strong as he could. Knowing that there were over 300km left in the race, I decided not to kill myself to bring the race level, and just did all I could to maintain the gap. I did not get an exact time, but I was a bit under 51 minutes.
For my second leg, Chris handed off to me with a large lead on the other team, and I increased it further. It was a 7.4km, flat run. I went out hard, had a stretch of about a half kilometre where I slowed, then picked it up again. I did not get an exact time on this one either, but it was around 26 minutes. Had a good dinner afterwards.
Saturday (1 race, 11km running total)
I had gotten about 10 minutes of sleep before this run at 5:40am. It was a 10.6km run. Chris Smith handed off to me with a big lead, and again I was able to extend it. I went out hard, and before I got to within 4km of the finish, I was feeling tired. I was quite slow for a few steps, but I had banked a large lead in the first half. I handed off in 36:14. I would not be surprised if it was less than 10.6k, but it felt like at least a 35 minute 10k effort. Our team won the leg, but lost the 333km race by about 7 minutes.
Sunday (off)
Traveled to QUBS in Eastern Ontario. My legs were pooched, and I was sleepy tired.
Total - 74km. A tough low-mileage week. The Shore-to-Shore was a blast. I enjoy testing my fitness in ways that many people never will.
I thought I'd feel really rested today, but my body felt tired. It was especially hot, which did not help. Nathan, Chris and I went out for 28 minutes and came back in less - total time was 55 minutes. We went on the Brescia trails. It bothered me that Chris and Nathan were both confrontational with a pair of dog owners, one who had her dog off the leash - I just said nothing.
Tuesday (off)
I was planning to run today but took it off instead so that I could go to a group meeting where I was not sweaty and underdressed. The day off also meant that I was full of energy for ultimate frisbee.
Wednesday (workout - 13km total)
Not a bad workout. Pretty low volume, but good quality, which is nice to have before my big race weekend. Did 3 sets of (2x300m), with 30 seconds between the first and second 300, and 4 minutes between sets. Finished up with 8x150m accelerations, which was some nice quality to finish. My 300s were all in 47.5, with the exception of the fifth, which was in 48.4. Nathan, Rob and Jamie were able to blast away from me on these, but I was happy just to hit my goal pace.
Thursday (14km)
I ran down to the Budget rent-a-car on York St., and ran back. I had to get my name on the insurance for the van for Shore-to-Shore this weekend. Pretty uneventful run. My legs were a bit sore from yesterday, so I took it easy. 61 minutes in total.
Friday (2 races, 23km running in total)
The Shore-to-Shore relay. I was second out of 12 in the rotation, meaning that I ran at 10:40am and 7:30pm on Friday, and 5:40am on Saturday. My first leg was the longest of the whole event, 14.3km. I got the handoff 1:45 down on the leaders, and quickly made up ground. I brought Greg into view by 6km, and by 11km was about 12 seconds back. I had worked hard to close the gap, though, and could not run the final hills (it was a hilly course overall) as strong as he could. Knowing that there were over 300km left in the race, I decided not to kill myself to bring the race level, and just did all I could to maintain the gap. I did not get an exact time, but I was a bit under 51 minutes.
For my second leg, Chris handed off to me with a large lead on the other team, and I increased it further. It was a 7.4km, flat run. I went out hard, had a stretch of about a half kilometre where I slowed, then picked it up again. I did not get an exact time on this one either, but it was around 26 minutes. Had a good dinner afterwards.
Saturday (1 race, 11km running total)
I had gotten about 10 minutes of sleep before this run at 5:40am. It was a 10.6km run. Chris Smith handed off to me with a big lead, and again I was able to extend it. I went out hard, and before I got to within 4km of the finish, I was feeling tired. I was quite slow for a few steps, but I had banked a large lead in the first half. I handed off in 36:14. I would not be surprised if it was less than 10.6k, but it felt like at least a 35 minute 10k effort. Our team won the leg, but lost the 333km race by about 7 minutes.
Sunday (off)
Traveled to QUBS in Eastern Ontario. My legs were pooched, and I was sleepy tired.
Total - 74km. A tough low-mileage week. The Shore-to-Shore was a blast. I enjoy testing my fitness in ways that many people never will.
Monday, May 19, 2008
May 19 - 25
Monday (workout - 14km total)
A pretty good workout out at Mother Teresa. Smaller group tonight - Nathan, Rob, and Jamie were with us for the whole thing, some of the high school guys fit in for a couple of repeats. We did 5x300m in 1500 pace (I was 47.5-49 for each) with 90 seconds rest, then 3x1k (3:11/3:12/3:09) with 90 seconds rest between. I did not help with any of the work into the wind on the 300s - it was into our face for the first 100m in the 300s, and again from 300-400 and 700-800 in the k's. The faster guys were bouncing around with the pace a fair bit because a woman was doing laps on the inside of lane 2. I was pleased with my k's. I helped keep the pace strong on the final kilometre, though by this point the hay was in the barn. Short warmup and cooldown. My calves felt really sore from three moderately hard days, but I worked through it.
Tuesday (13km)
50 minutes with Nathan and Rich. Chris did not show up on time, so we ran without him. This was a really slow pace. I am including some k's from the ultimate frisbee game I played afterwards. I need to be careful with frisbee - I injured my knee quite badly last year.
Wednesday (workout - 17km total)
A pretty good workout for me. It was cool (8C) and rainy for the whole workout. I had a 10 minute threshold-pace interval to start, then 6x a short hill, and a farlek pyramid of 1/2/3/2/1 minutes with 1 minute jog for recovery. Rob Watson and Chris Nagle looked great. They put a lot of distance on me in the longer fartlek intervals. The hills were good quality, and I was able to blast through the final minuter.
Thursday (12km)
Probably longer than 12k, but I will round down. Ran with Chris on the Brescia trails. It had rained a lot the day before, so the path was slippery. We came back on the roads, crossing paths with Mike McIntosh and Steve Weiler.
Friday (10km)
It took me about 15 minutes of running to convince my legs that they wanted to do this. I went for 45 minutes total, and I was hoping to get out for some more in the PM. I went down to Springbank.
Saturday (19km)
Steve had me down for a long run yesterday that I did not do. I made up for it with a fairly easy 19k (80 minutes) today. Joined Chris for about 35 minutes of this. It was a nice day. I sprinted in to finish, then did 4x~100m strides to get some more speed in. It has been a long while since I last went to the gym. My membership expired at Goodlife, so I am going to go to the UCC tomorrow. I do not want to do weights today - Saturday weights usually means a bad Sunday run.
Sunday (17km)
A pretty disappointing run with Ben. I did a 4k warmup with Ben. My legs felt good, but I sensed a little tightness in my shoulders. We hung around the cars for a bit - Nathan pointed out a large white bird to me that I (oddly) identified as a turkey at first, and later realized it was a peahen (female version of the peacock). Strange to see one out there. I ran 5k still feeling good, though I felt as though I was working really hard up the hills. I had to loosen up my shoulders a bit, and shortly after 6k, my shoulders were really tight. I had trouble pushing my legs forward because of the tightness. I quit at about 6.5k, turned around and had a long, slow jog back. This was my first bad workout in a couple of weeks. Was I due? I had a tough week the week before, but three full days to recover before this one. I was left concluding that my troubles were the result of the way I slept, and it was not anything to worry about.
I did some weights in the afternoon. My shoulders were already sore, why not go for broke? It was my first time in the UCC weightroom since 2001. It sucks. I'll use it for the rest of the week, then renew my membership at Goodlife after my field season ends.
Total - 102km. Finally broke into three digits! Aside from Sunday's run, this was a really good week. I am happy with how I handled four hard days out of 5 (from last Saturday through Wednesday). It might have caught up to me by Sunday, but I now have two more easy days before Wednesday, so I should be ready to go. Shore-to-Shore next weekend.
A pretty good workout out at Mother Teresa. Smaller group tonight - Nathan, Rob, and Jamie were with us for the whole thing, some of the high school guys fit in for a couple of repeats. We did 5x300m in 1500 pace (I was 47.5-49 for each) with 90 seconds rest, then 3x1k (3:11/3:12/3:09) with 90 seconds rest between. I did not help with any of the work into the wind on the 300s - it was into our face for the first 100m in the 300s, and again from 300-400 and 700-800 in the k's. The faster guys were bouncing around with the pace a fair bit because a woman was doing laps on the inside of lane 2. I was pleased with my k's. I helped keep the pace strong on the final kilometre, though by this point the hay was in the barn. Short warmup and cooldown. My calves felt really sore from three moderately hard days, but I worked through it.
Tuesday (13km)
50 minutes with Nathan and Rich. Chris did not show up on time, so we ran without him. This was a really slow pace. I am including some k's from the ultimate frisbee game I played afterwards. I need to be careful with frisbee - I injured my knee quite badly last year.
Wednesday (workout - 17km total)
A pretty good workout for me. It was cool (8C) and rainy for the whole workout. I had a 10 minute threshold-pace interval to start, then 6x a short hill, and a farlek pyramid of 1/2/3/2/1 minutes with 1 minute jog for recovery. Rob Watson and Chris Nagle looked great. They put a lot of distance on me in the longer fartlek intervals. The hills were good quality, and I was able to blast through the final minuter.
Thursday (12km)
Probably longer than 12k, but I will round down. Ran with Chris on the Brescia trails. It had rained a lot the day before, so the path was slippery. We came back on the roads, crossing paths with Mike McIntosh and Steve Weiler.
Friday (10km)
It took me about 15 minutes of running to convince my legs that they wanted to do this. I went for 45 minutes total, and I was hoping to get out for some more in the PM. I went down to Springbank.
Saturday (19km)
Steve had me down for a long run yesterday that I did not do. I made up for it with a fairly easy 19k (80 minutes) today. Joined Chris for about 35 minutes of this. It was a nice day. I sprinted in to finish, then did 4x~100m strides to get some more speed in. It has been a long while since I last went to the gym. My membership expired at Goodlife, so I am going to go to the UCC tomorrow. I do not want to do weights today - Saturday weights usually means a bad Sunday run.
Sunday (17km)
A pretty disappointing run with Ben. I did a 4k warmup with Ben. My legs felt good, but I sensed a little tightness in my shoulders. We hung around the cars for a bit - Nathan pointed out a large white bird to me that I (oddly) identified as a turkey at first, and later realized it was a peahen (female version of the peacock). Strange to see one out there. I ran 5k still feeling good, though I felt as though I was working really hard up the hills. I had to loosen up my shoulders a bit, and shortly after 6k, my shoulders were really tight. I had trouble pushing my legs forward because of the tightness. I quit at about 6.5k, turned around and had a long, slow jog back. This was my first bad workout in a couple of weeks. Was I due? I had a tough week the week before, but three full days to recover before this one. I was left concluding that my troubles were the result of the way I slept, and it was not anything to worry about.
I did some weights in the afternoon. My shoulders were already sore, why not go for broke? It was my first time in the UCC weightroom since 2001. It sucks. I'll use it for the rest of the week, then renew my membership at Goodlife after my field season ends.
Total - 102km. Finally broke into three digits! Aside from Sunday's run, this was a really good week. I am happy with how I handled four hard days out of 5 (from last Saturday through Wednesday). It might have caught up to me by Sunday, but I now have two more easy days before Wednesday, so I should be ready to go. Shore-to-Shore next weekend.
May 12 - 18
Monday (workout - 14km total)
A track workout at Mother Teresa school. The warmup and cooldown were a decent length. This felt great. Partway through the second repeat I thought to myself: "I love this; I missed the track." Running in a group of 5 guys hitting comfortably fast splits felt great. I did 400/600/800/600/400 at a little faster than 72s per lap, then followed it up with 6x200m in 29.6-32.5 with a minute rest. On the 200s we were aiming for 1500m pace, which is about 33s for me, but I got pulled along to faster times.
Tuesday (14km)
58 minutes with Chris. We went out on the Adelaide trails, turned around and came back. It really was not very fast.
Wednesday (workout - 16km total)
Up in Arva. I felt good for this workout - I led the first 2k (3:23/3:20), then led three-quarters of the second 2k before falling off a little and getting passed (3:18/3:24). I might have been trying too hard. I then had a long recovery before I did 8x1 minute on, 1 minute off. Nathan and Rob did these really well, but after five with them, I realized that I needed an easier recovery jog. I did the final three on my own. Still at a good pace, but I was more recovered when I started.
Thursday (13km)
55 minutes on my own. There was a meeting for the shore-to-shore team at Chancey Smith's downtown. I ran down, had a long break, and ran the 30 minutes of balance afterwards. These were definitely junk miles.
Friday (OFF)
I just could not fit it in. Too much going on after school, and I had slept too late to get it in before school in the morning.
Saturday (1500m race - 15km total)
AM - I did a 20 minute shakeout run in the morning. It was really slow, but it helped my legs feel like moving again after a day off.
PM - The OTFA 4x1500m relay championship. London Runner was the only team entered, so we won in a cakewalk. I am an Ontario champion! I ran the first leg of the relay, passing off to Rob. I was aiming for 68s, but it was quite hard on my own. I ran a 4:20, which is not fast, but not embarrassing. No one ran more than five seconds faster than me, and our anchor's PB is 24 seconds faster than mine.
Sunday (14km total)
Denfield run. It was wet and cool. It really was not a fun run. Steve had me down for 10km, but my 10k finished on Hyde Park Road, which is too busy for me to want to get into the car. I ran an extra kilometre-plus to get onto a less busy road. So, it was 11k at about 3:45s, and a short warmup beforehand. The rain was really bad for my legs. I have some bad chafing now. I hope that some Vaseline will make me comfortable enough for Monday's track workout.
Total - 86km. I need to make sure I get in my Friday runs, somehow.
A track workout at Mother Teresa school. The warmup and cooldown were a decent length. This felt great. Partway through the second repeat I thought to myself: "I love this; I missed the track." Running in a group of 5 guys hitting comfortably fast splits felt great. I did 400/600/800/600/400 at a little faster than 72s per lap, then followed it up with 6x200m in 29.6-32.5 with a minute rest. On the 200s we were aiming for 1500m pace, which is about 33s for me, but I got pulled along to faster times.
Tuesday (14km)
58 minutes with Chris. We went out on the Adelaide trails, turned around and came back. It really was not very fast.
Wednesday (workout - 16km total)
Up in Arva. I felt good for this workout - I led the first 2k (3:23/3:20), then led three-quarters of the second 2k before falling off a little and getting passed (3:18/3:24). I might have been trying too hard. I then had a long recovery before I did 8x1 minute on, 1 minute off. Nathan and Rob did these really well, but after five with them, I realized that I needed an easier recovery jog. I did the final three on my own. Still at a good pace, but I was more recovered when I started.
Thursday (13km)
55 minutes on my own. There was a meeting for the shore-to-shore team at Chancey Smith's downtown. I ran down, had a long break, and ran the 30 minutes of balance afterwards. These were definitely junk miles.
Friday (OFF)
I just could not fit it in. Too much going on after school, and I had slept too late to get it in before school in the morning.
Saturday (1500m race - 15km total)
AM - I did a 20 minute shakeout run in the morning. It was really slow, but it helped my legs feel like moving again after a day off.
PM - The OTFA 4x1500m relay championship. London Runner was the only team entered, so we won in a cakewalk. I am an Ontario champion! I ran the first leg of the relay, passing off to Rob. I was aiming for 68s, but it was quite hard on my own. I ran a 4:20, which is not fast, but not embarrassing. No one ran more than five seconds faster than me, and our anchor's PB is 24 seconds faster than mine.
Sunday (14km total)
Denfield run. It was wet and cool. It really was not a fun run. Steve had me down for 10km, but my 10k finished on Hyde Park Road, which is too busy for me to want to get into the car. I ran an extra kilometre-plus to get onto a less busy road. So, it was 11k at about 3:45s, and a short warmup beforehand. The rain was really bad for my legs. I have some bad chafing now. I hope that some Vaseline will make me comfortable enough for Monday's track workout.
Total - 86km. I need to make sure I get in my Friday runs, somehow.
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
May 5 - 11
Monday (workout - 14km)
Fairly light workout at Springbank with Chris and Jamie. We did a good warmup before Chris started on 6x1k. My workout was modified so that it wouldn't tax me too much, so I was 1k, then 4x500m and 1km all on the bike path. We worked it out so that I did a relay with Jamie, tagging off halfway through Chris's workout. This meant I had a lot of recovery after every second 500. I tried not to lead Chris by too much, so as he tired, my times got slower. I was 3:09/1:31/1:35/1:36/1:36/3:12. Did a light cooldown at the end.
Tuesday (15km)
A morning run with Chris. It was nice to get it out of the way. We went on the Adelaide trails and came back on Windermere and the back route by the stream. The pace was not too fast, but we were not dogging it, either. Today I turned 27.
Wednesday (workout - 18km total)
A good workout with the group. I was not feeling motivated for this workout because of the rain and my body felt tired from little sleep last night, but I had a good one. We did 8 short hills, which I did well in spite of the slippery conditions, then I did 3 x 9 minutes with 3 minutes rest. Some guys did as much as ten minutes per interval, but many stopped at 8. Steve told me to do 9. With the last one, I could have done another minute, but I decided to stick to the plan. It was not a fast pace, but with the conditions the way they were, with wet ground and long grass in some places, this was a good workout.
Thursday (11km)
Just 50 minutes with Chris. Our legs were feeling tired, so this was a true recovery run.
Friday (OFF)
I got invited to Point Pelee and did not get a chance to run today. I did a lot of walking instead.
Saturday (OFF)
No running today, either. More walking. The highlight was seeing a mottled duck, which is the first time one has been recorded in Canada. Neat.
Sunday (15km)
A quick 60 minutes on my own. It was a wet day, otherwise I would have been keen to go out earlier and run.
Total - 73km. It is not easy to hit the goal mileage when you miss two days.
Fairly light workout at Springbank with Chris and Jamie. We did a good warmup before Chris started on 6x1k. My workout was modified so that it wouldn't tax me too much, so I was 1k, then 4x500m and 1km all on the bike path. We worked it out so that I did a relay with Jamie, tagging off halfway through Chris's workout. This meant I had a lot of recovery after every second 500. I tried not to lead Chris by too much, so as he tired, my times got slower. I was 3:09/1:31/1:35/1:36/1:36/3:12. Did a light cooldown at the end.
Tuesday (15km)
A morning run with Chris. It was nice to get it out of the way. We went on the Adelaide trails and came back on Windermere and the back route by the stream. The pace was not too fast, but we were not dogging it, either. Today I turned 27.
Wednesday (workout - 18km total)
A good workout with the group. I was not feeling motivated for this workout because of the rain and my body felt tired from little sleep last night, but I had a good one. We did 8 short hills, which I did well in spite of the slippery conditions, then I did 3 x 9 minutes with 3 minutes rest. Some guys did as much as ten minutes per interval, but many stopped at 8. Steve told me to do 9. With the last one, I could have done another minute, but I decided to stick to the plan. It was not a fast pace, but with the conditions the way they were, with wet ground and long grass in some places, this was a good workout.
Thursday (11km)
Just 50 minutes with Chris. Our legs were feeling tired, so this was a true recovery run.
Friday (OFF)
I got invited to Point Pelee and did not get a chance to run today. I did a lot of walking instead.
Saturday (OFF)
No running today, either. More walking. The highlight was seeing a mottled duck, which is the first time one has been recorded in Canada. Neat.
Sunday (15km)
A quick 60 minutes on my own. It was a wet day, otherwise I would have been keen to go out earlier and run.
Total - 73km. It is not easy to hit the goal mileage when you miss two days.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
April 29-May 4
Monday (elliptical)
I was left on my own for this one. By the time I left my office, it was cool and a bit wet, so I decided to go inside to use the elliptical and do some weights. I covered 4.27 units (whatever they are) in an hour, which might be a new PB. The weight and core work felt good afterwards. I had not done it in several weeks, so it was good to get back.
Tuesday (12km)
52 minutes with Chris on the Adelaide trails. My left calf is still feeling sore from Saturday's track workout. This was just a relaxed run.
Wednesday (workout - 17km total)
Decent workout at Weldon Park. Started with 8x a short hill. The first 7 were good quality, but I let up a bit on number 8. We then went over to the track and did 5x800m with 2 minutes rest (2:33, 2:32, 2:33, 2:36, 2:37 for me). I started too fast, and paid for it by the end. Realistically, I should have been aiming for 2:35-2:36 at this point in the season. Finished up with two sets of 400/200, with a 30s rest after the 400 and plenty of rest between sets. My first set was not very good (71/31), but my second set got better (69/30). I did not feel very recovered from the 800s when we started the first set. Satisfying workout, though, coming off an illness.
Thursday (14km)
AM - weights and core.
PM - 60 minutes with Chris. My calves were really sore from yesterday still. We went south along the bike path through Gibbons and out to the sewage treatment plant and turned around to come back. This was a pretty relaxed pace, but it was not easy because my legs were so sore.
Friday (13km)
I drove home to Brockville and did my run around the senior boys' 3000m race up at TISS. I ran up there (adding on a bit to get to 30 minutes), and came back with a more direct route to get an additional 22 minutes. It was a good race - Jacob Smith set an aggressive pace at the start, but got passed at 1700m, and Daryl Smith kicked home with a k to go. He won by 9 seconds - very impressive. My calves were still sore.
Saturday (10km)
My calves felt really rough today. I had to stop and walk in the second half of the run to relieve some tension. It was a bright, warm day. I went up to TISS to check out the 3k results, then turned around and came home.
Sunday (race - 14km total)
A bit cool, but quite windy. Kevin Beatty and Joe Turner showed up, so it was nice to have someone to talk to on the warmup and cooldown. Kevin set a quick early pace that I hung onto for only 900m before he opened it up. I hit the k in 3:08. The wind was in our face for the second half. I felt strong the whole way, but my time was severely affected. I ran only 16:58. Given my illness two weeks ago, I had low expectations, but I still thought a 16:40 was in the works. I got a massage afterwards and the masseuse suggested that I get more calcium to relieve my muscle cramps. They were still tight. I took a double-dose of calcium and will start doubling up for the next few weeks.
Total - 80km (plus an elliptical; about 15k of effort). Decent volume, but I am uneasy about my calves. I hope they do not become a problem throughout the season.
I was left on my own for this one. By the time I left my office, it was cool and a bit wet, so I decided to go inside to use the elliptical and do some weights. I covered 4.27 units (whatever they are) in an hour, which might be a new PB. The weight and core work felt good afterwards. I had not done it in several weeks, so it was good to get back.
Tuesday (12km)
52 minutes with Chris on the Adelaide trails. My left calf is still feeling sore from Saturday's track workout. This was just a relaxed run.
Wednesday (workout - 17km total)
Decent workout at Weldon Park. Started with 8x a short hill. The first 7 were good quality, but I let up a bit on number 8. We then went over to the track and did 5x800m with 2 minutes rest (2:33, 2:32, 2:33, 2:36, 2:37 for me). I started too fast, and paid for it by the end. Realistically, I should have been aiming for 2:35-2:36 at this point in the season. Finished up with two sets of 400/200, with a 30s rest after the 400 and plenty of rest between sets. My first set was not very good (71/31), but my second set got better (69/30). I did not feel very recovered from the 800s when we started the first set. Satisfying workout, though, coming off an illness.
Thursday (14km)
AM - weights and core.
PM - 60 minutes with Chris. My calves were really sore from yesterday still. We went south along the bike path through Gibbons and out to the sewage treatment plant and turned around to come back. This was a pretty relaxed pace, but it was not easy because my legs were so sore.
Friday (13km)
I drove home to Brockville and did my run around the senior boys' 3000m race up at TISS. I ran up there (adding on a bit to get to 30 minutes), and came back with a more direct route to get an additional 22 minutes. It was a good race - Jacob Smith set an aggressive pace at the start, but got passed at 1700m, and Daryl Smith kicked home with a k to go. He won by 9 seconds - very impressive. My calves were still sore.
Saturday (10km)
My calves felt really rough today. I had to stop and walk in the second half of the run to relieve some tension. It was a bright, warm day. I went up to TISS to check out the 3k results, then turned around and came home.
Sunday (race - 14km total)
A bit cool, but quite windy. Kevin Beatty and Joe Turner showed up, so it was nice to have someone to talk to on the warmup and cooldown. Kevin set a quick early pace that I hung onto for only 900m before he opened it up. I hit the k in 3:08. The wind was in our face for the second half. I felt strong the whole way, but my time was severely affected. I ran only 16:58. Given my illness two weeks ago, I had low expectations, but I still thought a 16:40 was in the works. I got a massage afterwards and the masseuse suggested that I get more calcium to relieve my muscle cramps. They were still tight. I took a double-dose of calcium and will start doubling up for the next few weeks.
Total - 80km (plus an elliptical; about 15k of effort). Decent volume, but I am uneasy about my calves. I hope they do not become a problem throughout the season.
April 21-27
This was not a great week for me. I was still getting over my illness (whatever it was). I had a couple of decent workouts, though, that showed that I'm on my way back. Wednesday I did 10 short hills at a fast pace, then went over to the track to do 3x 800, 800, 400. I think. It was okay. I stuck with the group. Saturday I did (400, 3x200), (2x400), and a 1200m fartlek. It was my first true track workout in a year, so my times were not impressive 62 for the first 400. Sunday I finished up with a 10k in 37:28 with the group (aiming for 3:45kms). I felt as though doing another 2k was possible, but would absolutely wipe me. Fortunately I was on the schedule for only 10.
Total - I cannot remember.
Total - I cannot remember.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
April 14-20
Monday (6km)
Really easy day today. Legs were feeling dull, so I did a short one to shake them out. This was a run to Paul Roberts' house to discuss the Shore-to-Shore relay, and back.
Tuesday (off)
Felt pretty congested today. I decided to take the day off to try to get healthy.
Wednesday (workout - 15km total)
Still felt congested today, and to make matters worse, my left hip felt incredibly sore. The workout was a tempo, hills, then some kilometres at a quality effort. My tempo was rough - I stopped after 3k on Steve's suggestion because my second k was much slower than my first. I picked it up for the third, but it was still slow. My breathing definitely was affected. On the hills, I was a little conservative so that I could get through all ten. They were short, but it still took a lot out of me. I stuck with the high school guys on these hills. Finished with 2x1k. I went 3:16/3:21. Rolled my ankle pretty thoroughly in the last hundred metres of the first k, otherwise it would have been 2-3 seconds faster. The second k did not feel a whole lot slower, but I think my congestion prevented me from having a really good one here. Overall, it was not a good workout, but I feel as though I got some benefit from doing it. Coming off of vacation and feeling sick, it would have been bad for my fitness to take a break. I'm glad I did most of it.
Thursday (10km)
My legs felt dull and lifeless today. 45 minutes was all I felt like doing - this was slow. If I was with Chris, we'd try to tough it out for an hour, but I did not feel up for it today. Was never very far from the apartment. Beautiful day, though.
Friday (off)
Sooo... I am exhibiting flu-like symptoms. I decided to take the day off. Fever, sore eyes, tired body, unhappy stomach. I vomited in the middle of the afternoon, which is pretty frickin' unusual. I just had a liquid dinner. I hope I can get better soon.
Lesson to learn: get the flu shot.
Really easy day today. Legs were feeling dull, so I did a short one to shake them out. This was a run to Paul Roberts' house to discuss the Shore-to-Shore relay, and back.
Tuesday (off)
Felt pretty congested today. I decided to take the day off to try to get healthy.
Wednesday (workout - 15km total)
Still felt congested today, and to make matters worse, my left hip felt incredibly sore. The workout was a tempo, hills, then some kilometres at a quality effort. My tempo was rough - I stopped after 3k on Steve's suggestion because my second k was much slower than my first. I picked it up for the third, but it was still slow. My breathing definitely was affected. On the hills, I was a little conservative so that I could get through all ten. They were short, but it still took a lot out of me. I stuck with the high school guys on these hills. Finished with 2x1k. I went 3:16/3:21. Rolled my ankle pretty thoroughly in the last hundred metres of the first k, otherwise it would have been 2-3 seconds faster. The second k did not feel a whole lot slower, but I think my congestion prevented me from having a really good one here. Overall, it was not a good workout, but I feel as though I got some benefit from doing it. Coming off of vacation and feeling sick, it would have been bad for my fitness to take a break. I'm glad I did most of it.
Thursday (10km)
My legs felt dull and lifeless today. 45 minutes was all I felt like doing - this was slow. If I was with Chris, we'd try to tough it out for an hour, but I did not feel up for it today. Was never very far from the apartment. Beautiful day, though.
Friday (off)
Sooo... I am exhibiting flu-like symptoms. I decided to take the day off. Fever, sore eyes, tired body, unhappy stomach. I vomited in the middle of the afternoon, which is pretty frickin' unusual. I just had a liquid dinner. I hope I can get better soon.
Lesson to learn: get the flu shot.
Monday, April 14, 2008
April 7-13
Monday (off)
Went snorkeling and wore out my legs. I did not run today.
Tuesday (21km total)
AM - 61 minutes on my own. I traveled east on the main highway towards Cabo San Jose. It was a pretty dull run, but a good temperature and my legs felt fresh.
PM - 36 minutes with Chris. We went into town. My legs started to feel tired by the end. I went dancing later that night, and absolutely pooched myself.
Wednesday (off)
Really tired today. I did not run.
Thursday (14km)
A good hour-long run on my own into town in the morning. Chris tried calling me while I was already a half-hour into the run. We should have tried to coordinate our run the night before.
Friday (off)
Slept in and could not be bothered to run in the afternoon.
Saturday (off)
A travel day. I would have done a short run if I got back to London, but we stopped in Waterloo for the night.
Sunday (5km)
20 minutes on my own. Wow, my legs felt tired. My right quad is sore from heavy dancing on Thursday still.
Total - 40km. My lowest-mileage week in a while. Now I am back to civilization, though, and can get back to a good routine. My next race is the California Run on May 4.
Went snorkeling and wore out my legs. I did not run today.
Tuesday (21km total)
AM - 61 minutes on my own. I traveled east on the main highway towards Cabo San Jose. It was a pretty dull run, but a good temperature and my legs felt fresh.
PM - 36 minutes with Chris. We went into town. My legs started to feel tired by the end. I went dancing later that night, and absolutely pooched myself.
Wednesday (off)
Really tired today. I did not run.
Thursday (14km)
A good hour-long run on my own into town in the morning. Chris tried calling me while I was already a half-hour into the run. We should have tried to coordinate our run the night before.
Friday (off)
Slept in and could not be bothered to run in the afternoon.
Saturday (off)
A travel day. I would have done a short run if I got back to London, but we stopped in Waterloo for the night.
Sunday (5km)
20 minutes on my own. Wow, my legs felt tired. My right quad is sore from heavy dancing on Thursday still.
Total - 40km. My lowest-mileage week in a while. Now I am back to civilization, though, and can get back to a good routine. My next race is the California Run on May 4.
Monday, March 31, 2008
March 31-April 6
Monday (14km)
Nathan surprised me by showing up at my office just before 5. The timing worked out well so I could leave campus reasonably early. It was not a fast pace, but I got in my hour. I was feeling tired from a rough weekend and a bad night's sleep last night. This was the first run of the year where I felt well-dressed in shorts and t-shirt.
Tuesday (13km)
My legs felt dead this morning when I woke up, so I decided it would be foolish to do weights. Ran for just 55 minutes with Chris. I think a workout would not have gone well. We ran at a stiff pace, though - close to 4 minute kilometres. The wind was rough for the first half. Not very warm, either.
Wednesday (off)
Legs felt dead. Decided to do something about it.
Thursday (workout - 17km total)
A long one out at Denfield. We did 6x a 220m hill, which I did well, 2km and 1km which I struggled with, then 6x220 of hills (I did these well again) and finished with a 1k, which did not feel easy, but was a reasonable pace. It was 10C, which was much warmer than what I am used to these days. The footing was not great on the 2k and 1k work, but I was the most affected by it. I think the weight work from the last two weeks left me tired for this today, but I have only one more day before the beach, and then I can tone it back to twice a week again.
Friday (elliptial)
Just a cross-training day. I did about half an hour on the elliptical plus a bunch of weights - last chance to get buff before the beach!
Saturday (9km)
40 minutes with Chris. We were really tired and just slogged through a painfully slow 40 minutes. Probably a stretch to call it 9km. We both had very little sleep and were running in Mexico for the first time. It felt hot as we were not yet used to the weather. Went into town and back.
Sunday (13km)
A slow 60 minutes on my own. I ran into town to try to see if I could get out to the point by road, but it ended before then. Still hot. I tried to find Chris, but he was trying to organize something for Monday and I could not find him.
Total - 56km. I expected a low mileage week, and I got one.
Nathan surprised me by showing up at my office just before 5. The timing worked out well so I could leave campus reasonably early. It was not a fast pace, but I got in my hour. I was feeling tired from a rough weekend and a bad night's sleep last night. This was the first run of the year where I felt well-dressed in shorts and t-shirt.
Tuesday (13km)
My legs felt dead this morning when I woke up, so I decided it would be foolish to do weights. Ran for just 55 minutes with Chris. I think a workout would not have gone well. We ran at a stiff pace, though - close to 4 minute kilometres. The wind was rough for the first half. Not very warm, either.
Wednesday (off)
Legs felt dead. Decided to do something about it.
Thursday (workout - 17km total)
A long one out at Denfield. We did 6x a 220m hill, which I did well, 2km and 1km which I struggled with, then 6x220 of hills (I did these well again) and finished with a 1k, which did not feel easy, but was a reasonable pace. It was 10C, which was much warmer than what I am used to these days. The footing was not great on the 2k and 1k work, but I was the most affected by it. I think the weight work from the last two weeks left me tired for this today, but I have only one more day before the beach, and then I can tone it back to twice a week again.
Friday (elliptial)
Just a cross-training day. I did about half an hour on the elliptical plus a bunch of weights - last chance to get buff before the beach!
Saturday (9km)
40 minutes with Chris. We were really tired and just slogged through a painfully slow 40 minutes. Probably a stretch to call it 9km. We both had very little sleep and were running in Mexico for the first time. It felt hot as we were not yet used to the weather. Went into town and back.
Sunday (13km)
A slow 60 minutes on my own. I ran into town to try to see if I could get out to the point by road, but it ended before then. Still hot. I tried to find Chris, but he was trying to organize something for Monday and I could not find him.
Total - 56km. I expected a low mileage week, and I got one.
Monday, March 24, 2008
March 24-30
Monday (off)
No running today. I was in Waterloo visiting Steve's family and neglected to pack running clothes. I'll make up for it later in the week.
Tuesday (elliptical)
Kind of a messy day, and when I realized that Chris was away, I decided that I did not want to do a workout on my own. I went to the gym and did a hard elliptical workout instead. I set the resistance a little higher, and went a little farther (4.27 units) than I have in the past. I was on for an hour, and this really felt like more than 15km of effort.
Wednesday (14km)
AM - I did some weights. I had not done weights in a while, and with my groin not giving me problems for the last few days, I decided to give it a go. It went fine. Observation: why do unfit old men take so long to put their clothes on after showering? I've decided the reason this offends me is aesthetic: I am reminded of how I will look in 40 years. Could I please instead see some fit old men to give me hope?
PM - I ran on my own from my apartment. I wore a long-sleeve t-shirt and shorts, but could have worn more and been more comfortable. I ran out on Oxford to the bike path, then out towards Springbank, but turned around just past the footbridge to the Thames Valley golf course. I saw two male bufflehead ducks, the sight of which caused me to exclaim: "Sweet!" Buffleheads are the cutest ducks ever minted. I did just over an hour; I'll call it 14km.
Thursday (workout - 18km)
Snow again. Steve moved the regular Wednesday workout to today so more people could make it. My workout was okay - 2x2.5km (8:14/8:15) with plenty of rest, then 2x1.25km (4:08/4:10), again with a near-full recovery. My chest was a bit tight because of the weights yesterday, but I will do them again tomorrow. We finished up with 3x400m hills that I did fairly easily. By this time my feet were absolutely soaked. The hills were not fun.
Friday (10km)
This run was too short. We started the run late because we checked out Steve Lyons' art display at the Visual Arts building first. We were anxious to get home afterwards and cut it to just 43 minutes.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his house. We ran down to the bike path and came back on Talbot. It was a nice, quick pace. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a bit too light, but it was a good, comfortable run all the same.
Sunday (workout - 15km total)
Such a disappointing run. After the success of last week's Denfield workout, I was really looking forward to today's run. Steve had me down for 18km at 3:45s. There was a good group again. For the first 10k we were with the wind. My shoulder tightened up a bit by this point, but I felt good about continuing. When we turned around to head into the wind again, though, I fell off the pace. I quit just after 12k, and jogged into the finish. Did some weights in the afternoon with elliptical warmup and cooldown.
Total - 72km (about 91 including elliptical efforts). This week was a real mixed bag.
No running today. I was in Waterloo visiting Steve's family and neglected to pack running clothes. I'll make up for it later in the week.
Tuesday (elliptical)
Kind of a messy day, and when I realized that Chris was away, I decided that I did not want to do a workout on my own. I went to the gym and did a hard elliptical workout instead. I set the resistance a little higher, and went a little farther (4.27 units) than I have in the past. I was on for an hour, and this really felt like more than 15km of effort.
Wednesday (14km)
AM - I did some weights. I had not done weights in a while, and with my groin not giving me problems for the last few days, I decided to give it a go. It went fine. Observation: why do unfit old men take so long to put their clothes on after showering? I've decided the reason this offends me is aesthetic: I am reminded of how I will look in 40 years. Could I please instead see some fit old men to give me hope?
PM - I ran on my own from my apartment. I wore a long-sleeve t-shirt and shorts, but could have worn more and been more comfortable. I ran out on Oxford to the bike path, then out towards Springbank, but turned around just past the footbridge to the Thames Valley golf course. I saw two male bufflehead ducks, the sight of which caused me to exclaim: "Sweet!" Buffleheads are the cutest ducks ever minted. I did just over an hour; I'll call it 14km.
Thursday (workout - 18km)
Snow again. Steve moved the regular Wednesday workout to today so more people could make it. My workout was okay - 2x2.5km (8:14/8:15) with plenty of rest, then 2x1.25km (4:08/4:10), again with a near-full recovery. My chest was a bit tight because of the weights yesterday, but I will do them again tomorrow. We finished up with 3x400m hills that I did fairly easily. By this time my feet were absolutely soaked. The hills were not fun.
Friday (10km)
This run was too short. We started the run late because we checked out Steve Lyons' art display at the Visual Arts building first. We were anxious to get home afterwards and cut it to just 43 minutes.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his house. We ran down to the bike path and came back on Talbot. It was a nice, quick pace. I wore shorts and a t-shirt. The t-shirt was a bit too light, but it was a good, comfortable run all the same.
Sunday (workout - 15km total)
Such a disappointing run. After the success of last week's Denfield workout, I was really looking forward to today's run. Steve had me down for 18km at 3:45s. There was a good group again. For the first 10k we were with the wind. My shoulder tightened up a bit by this point, but I felt good about continuing. When we turned around to head into the wind again, though, I fell off the pace. I quit just after 12k, and jogged into the finish. Did some weights in the afternoon with elliptical warmup and cooldown.
Total - 72km (about 91 including elliptical efforts). This week was a real mixed bag.
Monday, March 17, 2008
March 17-23
Monday (13km)
55 minutes with Chris. I had planned to meet him at 4:30 and run with him and Nathan, but Nathan did not show up. It turned out that the two of them had different ideas of what meeting at an office meant. My groin felt fine throughout the day (possibly related to the Tylenol I took in the morning) but by the time we ran it was not happy again. I really hope it clears up by my race on Friday.
Tuesday (13km)
Another short one. 56 minutes total, 54 of that was with at least one other person from the cross country team. It was a wet day. We went east to Adelaide, then back on Windermere. The highlight of the run for me was witnessing a collision. A van had stopped to let some jaywalkers through. The jeep behind had plenty of time to react, but did not in time, and hit the van. Our group stopped about twenty metres away to see if something would happen. The driver of the jeep then hopped out and started yelling at the jaywalkers "What are you going to do about it? Are you just going to walk away?" The jeep's driver was dressed in baggy pants, a flannel coat and a bandanna. He was not going to get much sympathy from the police. Good relaxing pace. I noticed my groin bothering me, but the slower pace helped.
Wednesday (workout - 14km)
I was worried about what Steve would throw at us two days before our 5k, but this seemed perfect. My legs were feeling dead on the warmup, but I shook that off once the workout began. We did 3x1km with three minutes rest, with the first two kms aiming for goal race pace (3:14-3:17 for me), and the last km at a faster pace. I went 3:09 (too fast), 3:14 (perfect), 3:02 (good). The course was re-measured tonight to give us an accurate km, so the first person to finish the third loop was going to set the new course record. I sprinted past Chris in the final 15m to make sure I took the record. It will be broken the next time we do that loop. We then did 6x200m downhill, and jogged back up. I just cruised it, worried about doing something stupid just before a race. It felt good. It is nice to have a confidence-builder leading into the race.
Thursday (10km)
A light run the night before my race. Steve had me down for 60 minutes, but I cut it back to 43. My legs felt dull and tired. There was a stiff wind in places. Feeling a little less optimistic about tomorrow.
Friday (5km race (16:36); 17km total)
I did not sleep well last night and felt sleepy tired this morning. I jogged down to the start line to save time. I felt nice and warmed up by the time the race started. I wore half-tights with a t-shirt and long-sleeve shirt underneath. Ben Perks and I worked together - we were not side-by-side, but we were within three metres until there were about 800m to go. We hit our first two splits beautifully: 3:16/3:17 and were moving our way up through the field. Our third kilometre was slow, according to Ben - about 3:23. We were still moving up on everyone, so everyone around us had slowed down. Ben got on my shoulder with a mile to go and was able to move ahead when I had to swerve to get around some walkers. I thought we might catch Dennis and an unidentified guy in front of us, but they maintained their gap. Ben pulled away a bit with 600 to go, but he let up too much heading into the line, and I made up about 8m in the last 50m of the race to just nip him at the line. I was 6th overall. I'm satisfied with the race. I thought 16:25 was about the fastest I could hope for today, and if not for a slow kilometre, I would have been right there. It felt easy - like my 5k at Around the Bay last year. I should have aimed for a faster time - around 16:15, maybe. Did a long cooldown and took advantage of the free massage afterwards.
Saturday (13km)
53 minutes. I ran quickly to get to Bob's office in time to meet Nathan and Chris. It was a bit cold for shorts, but that's what I wore. Saw a couple of deer only a few metres away in the subdivision by Perrin Park, otherwise the run had no highlights. My legs were feeling sore from the race yesterday, but the groin felt fine.
Sunday (workout - 18km)
This was a really good finish to the week. I woke up earlier than I needed to, but still managed to show up to the workout late. I was scheduled for 14km at Denfield, aiming for 3:45/km. I started with Chris, Dennis and Rob Watson. We hit the first four kilometres without any problem before we turned into the headwind. The next five-plus kilometres was hard. I had to really work to maintain the pace. Once we turned south on High Park, I could relax and started to hit the pace again. With the wind at our back on Sunningdale, Chris put a few steps on me, but when I handed off my fleece top at 12k, I immediately felt quicker and decided to do more. I made it to 16k before stopping. 59:20 for me, so faster than goal pace overall. I did a short warmup and cooldown to take it to 18k for the day.
Total - 98km. My best week in a while. Each of my hard days went well, and by Sunday my groin was giving me virtually no problems. I had taken the week off from weights, which probably sped my recovery.
55 minutes with Chris. I had planned to meet him at 4:30 and run with him and Nathan, but Nathan did not show up. It turned out that the two of them had different ideas of what meeting at an office meant. My groin felt fine throughout the day (possibly related to the Tylenol I took in the morning) but by the time we ran it was not happy again. I really hope it clears up by my race on Friday.
Tuesday (13km)
Another short one. 56 minutes total, 54 of that was with at least one other person from the cross country team. It was a wet day. We went east to Adelaide, then back on Windermere. The highlight of the run for me was witnessing a collision. A van had stopped to let some jaywalkers through. The jeep behind had plenty of time to react, but did not in time, and hit the van. Our group stopped about twenty metres away to see if something would happen. The driver of the jeep then hopped out and started yelling at the jaywalkers "What are you going to do about it? Are you just going to walk away?" The jeep's driver was dressed in baggy pants, a flannel coat and a bandanna. He was not going to get much sympathy from the police. Good relaxing pace. I noticed my groin bothering me, but the slower pace helped.
Wednesday (workout - 14km)
I was worried about what Steve would throw at us two days before our 5k, but this seemed perfect. My legs were feeling dead on the warmup, but I shook that off once the workout began. We did 3x1km with three minutes rest, with the first two kms aiming for goal race pace (3:14-3:17 for me), and the last km at a faster pace. I went 3:09 (too fast), 3:14 (perfect), 3:02 (good). The course was re-measured tonight to give us an accurate km, so the first person to finish the third loop was going to set the new course record. I sprinted past Chris in the final 15m to make sure I took the record. It will be broken the next time we do that loop. We then did 6x200m downhill, and jogged back up. I just cruised it, worried about doing something stupid just before a race. It felt good. It is nice to have a confidence-builder leading into the race.
Thursday (10km)
A light run the night before my race. Steve had me down for 60 minutes, but I cut it back to 43. My legs felt dull and tired. There was a stiff wind in places. Feeling a little less optimistic about tomorrow.
Friday (5km race (16:36); 17km total)
I did not sleep well last night and felt sleepy tired this morning. I jogged down to the start line to save time. I felt nice and warmed up by the time the race started. I wore half-tights with a t-shirt and long-sleeve shirt underneath. Ben Perks and I worked together - we were not side-by-side, but we were within three metres until there were about 800m to go. We hit our first two splits beautifully: 3:16/3:17 and were moving our way up through the field. Our third kilometre was slow, according to Ben - about 3:23. We were still moving up on everyone, so everyone around us had slowed down. Ben got on my shoulder with a mile to go and was able to move ahead when I had to swerve to get around some walkers. I thought we might catch Dennis and an unidentified guy in front of us, but they maintained their gap. Ben pulled away a bit with 600 to go, but he let up too much heading into the line, and I made up about 8m in the last 50m of the race to just nip him at the line. I was 6th overall. I'm satisfied with the race. I thought 16:25 was about the fastest I could hope for today, and if not for a slow kilometre, I would have been right there. It felt easy - like my 5k at Around the Bay last year. I should have aimed for a faster time - around 16:15, maybe. Did a long cooldown and took advantage of the free massage afterwards.
Saturday (13km)
53 minutes. I ran quickly to get to Bob's office in time to meet Nathan and Chris. It was a bit cold for shorts, but that's what I wore. Saw a couple of deer only a few metres away in the subdivision by Perrin Park, otherwise the run had no highlights. My legs were feeling sore from the race yesterday, but the groin felt fine.
Sunday (workout - 18km)
This was a really good finish to the week. I woke up earlier than I needed to, but still managed to show up to the workout late. I was scheduled for 14km at Denfield, aiming for 3:45/km. I started with Chris, Dennis and Rob Watson. We hit the first four kilometres without any problem before we turned into the headwind. The next five-plus kilometres was hard. I had to really work to maintain the pace. Once we turned south on High Park, I could relax and started to hit the pace again. With the wind at our back on Sunningdale, Chris put a few steps on me, but when I handed off my fleece top at 12k, I immediately felt quicker and decided to do more. I made it to 16k before stopping. 59:20 for me, so faster than goal pace overall. I did a short warmup and cooldown to take it to 18k for the day.
Total - 98km. My best week in a while. Each of my hard days went well, and by Sunday my groin was giving me virtually no problems. I had taken the week off from weights, which probably sped my recovery.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
March 10-16
Monday (OFF)
I wore myself out by moving the lab. I could not muster the energy to go for a run as well.
Tuesday (15km)
61 minutes on my own from school. It was a fairly nice day. I did a loop around campus and headed south down St. George, eventually getting on the bike path to the forks and coming back around downtown. I started off at a quick pace but settled into a slower, more manageable pace for the middle 30 minutes.
Wednesday (workout - 18km)
Not a very good workout. My shoulders were still sore from Monday. It did not kill my workout, but I felt really tense during the first tempo. My lower back was very unhappy from 2.5-4km, and my lower abdominals also began to really hurt. I did 4km of tempo, then 3x a 400m hill, and 3x a 580m loop. My final loops were pretty good, but the rest was rough.
Thursday (elliptical)
My legs felt tired today, so I decided to do my workout indoors on the elliptical. I started at too fast a pace given how tired my legs were, and had to stop after 40 minutes. I wanted to do some additional exercises afterwards, but my lower abs were still really unhappy - I could not do an ab workout.
Friday (off)
Slept too late, and I could not fit in a run for the rest of the day. I am starting to feel a little sick. I need to make sure that I get a good sleep tonight.
Saturday (workout - 17km)
A nice day, but my abs/groin gave me a lot of trouble today. I did 6x1km at a good pace: 3:15-3:17 with plenty of rest (3 minutes). My final tempo was rough. My chest tightened up 500m in, probably in response to my unhappy body, and I ended up jogging the rest of the 2.25. Plenty of warmup and cooldown.
Sunday (18km)
78 minutes with Chris. Not very fast. My groin was still bothering me. We did a bit around his neighbourhood before heading south on Adelaide.
Total - 68km. Really low mileage this week. With my injury and lower mileage, my confidence is not as high as it was a month ago.
I wore myself out by moving the lab. I could not muster the energy to go for a run as well.
Tuesday (15km)
61 minutes on my own from school. It was a fairly nice day. I did a loop around campus and headed south down St. George, eventually getting on the bike path to the forks and coming back around downtown. I started off at a quick pace but settled into a slower, more manageable pace for the middle 30 minutes.
Wednesday (workout - 18km)
Not a very good workout. My shoulders were still sore from Monday. It did not kill my workout, but I felt really tense during the first tempo. My lower back was very unhappy from 2.5-4km, and my lower abdominals also began to really hurt. I did 4km of tempo, then 3x a 400m hill, and 3x a 580m loop. My final loops were pretty good, but the rest was rough.
Thursday (elliptical)
My legs felt tired today, so I decided to do my workout indoors on the elliptical. I started at too fast a pace given how tired my legs were, and had to stop after 40 minutes. I wanted to do some additional exercises afterwards, but my lower abs were still really unhappy - I could not do an ab workout.
Friday (off)
Slept too late, and I could not fit in a run for the rest of the day. I am starting to feel a little sick. I need to make sure that I get a good sleep tonight.
Saturday (workout - 17km)
A nice day, but my abs/groin gave me a lot of trouble today. I did 6x1km at a good pace: 3:15-3:17 with plenty of rest (3 minutes). My final tempo was rough. My chest tightened up 500m in, probably in response to my unhappy body, and I ended up jogging the rest of the 2.25. Plenty of warmup and cooldown.
Sunday (18km)
78 minutes with Chris. Not very fast. My groin was still bothering me. We did a bit around his neighbourhood before heading south on Adelaide.
Total - 68km. Really low mileage this week. With my injury and lower mileage, my confidence is not as high as it was a month ago.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
March 3-9
Monday (10km)
One of those days when I just hate to run. It was about 8C - no, there was no '-' sign before the 8. That was above freezing. But it was raining. Ugh ugh ugh.
Tuesday (14km)
Light weight workout in the morning. It was about -3 by the time we started our run. Finally, some nice weather! No rain, and it was not even very slippery. This was my most satisfying run since last Tuesday. We did just 56 minutes, but I feel comfortable calling it a full 14k.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Today I put my name on the list for Runner's Choice Shore-to-Shore relay team. I did the event last year and had a terrific time. 303km from Port Stanley on Lake Erie to Grand Bend on Lake Huron. From start to finish it took my team of 12 just over 26 hours last year. This includes some time where we were waiting at checkpoints, resting. This is an event I can look forward to.
There was a large dump of the white stuff last night making the roads unfun to run on. I think we have had one Wednesday with clear roads since the beginning of January. Steve improvised by measuring a 500m course that we did there and back for 1k repeats. I was really uneven: 3:22/3:17/3:24/3:19/3:25. How easily I could handle the 180 degree turn had an impact on those times. My two fastest repeats were where I was chasing Chris. Mike Delmonte was well in front for all of them. We then did 4x a 500m hill with a jog down for recovery. The footing was slippery, and I tell myself that if only it was better, I would have done six.
Thursday (13km)
My legs were really tired today. Chris and I just chugged along for 55 minutes at a slow pace. Some sections were slippery, which might have hurt our recovery, but we really did not push it. I hope my legs will feel better tomorrow. I'm going to take a performance enhancer (Tylenol) tonight. Don't tell Athletics Canada.
Friday (OFF)
It was not a scheduled off day, but I was too busy today to fit one in. I knew it had to happen.
Saturday (OFF)
It snowed heavily all day, making it extremely unpleasant to run. I considered going to the gym for an elliptical workout but it took 20 minutes to get my car out of its parking spot in the afternoon, and I worried what would happen coming home. I did not do anything energetic at all today.
Sunday (18km)
81 minutes that I hated. Most sidewalks were at least partly plowed, but the one I had to run on for half a kilometre two minutes into the run was completely unplowed. More bounding than running. I met Chris and did some with him, but it was not a fun run, and not fast. I am tired of winter.
Total - 74km with two days off. Not a great week. I'd love some decent weather soon.
One of those days when I just hate to run. It was about 8C - no, there was no '-' sign before the 8. That was above freezing. But it was raining. Ugh ugh ugh.
Tuesday (14km)
Light weight workout in the morning. It was about -3 by the time we started our run. Finally, some nice weather! No rain, and it was not even very slippery. This was my most satisfying run since last Tuesday. We did just 56 minutes, but I feel comfortable calling it a full 14k.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Today I put my name on the list for Runner's Choice Shore-to-Shore relay team. I did the event last year and had a terrific time. 303km from Port Stanley on Lake Erie to Grand Bend on Lake Huron. From start to finish it took my team of 12 just over 26 hours last year. This includes some time where we were waiting at checkpoints, resting. This is an event I can look forward to.
There was a large dump of the white stuff last night making the roads unfun to run on. I think we have had one Wednesday with clear roads since the beginning of January. Steve improvised by measuring a 500m course that we did there and back for 1k repeats. I was really uneven: 3:22/3:17/3:24/3:19/3:25. How easily I could handle the 180 degree turn had an impact on those times. My two fastest repeats were where I was chasing Chris. Mike Delmonte was well in front for all of them. We then did 4x a 500m hill with a jog down for recovery. The footing was slippery, and I tell myself that if only it was better, I would have done six.
Thursday (13km)
My legs were really tired today. Chris and I just chugged along for 55 minutes at a slow pace. Some sections were slippery, which might have hurt our recovery, but we really did not push it. I hope my legs will feel better tomorrow. I'm going to take a performance enhancer (Tylenol) tonight. Don't tell Athletics Canada.
Friday (OFF)
It was not a scheduled off day, but I was too busy today to fit one in. I knew it had to happen.
Saturday (OFF)
It snowed heavily all day, making it extremely unpleasant to run. I considered going to the gym for an elliptical workout but it took 20 minutes to get my car out of its parking spot in the afternoon, and I worried what would happen coming home. I did not do anything energetic at all today.
Sunday (18km)
81 minutes that I hated. Most sidewalks were at least partly plowed, but the one I had to run on for half a kilometre two minutes into the run was completely unplowed. More bounding than running. I met Chris and did some with him, but it was not a fun run, and not fast. I am tired of winter.
Total - 74km with two days off. Not a great week. I'd love some decent weather soon.
Monday, February 25, 2008
February 26 - March 2
Monday (11km)
On my own today. I did just 45 minutes on my own. I was feeling rough today - I had trouble sleeping last night and woke up feeling unwell. I wore shorts for a 45 minuter. I went from my apartment up to school to feed fish, then came back through Gibbons and back along Oxford. Pretty short.
Tuesday (10km)
I forgot long pants today, which was a mistake - it was -1C, snowy and windy (felt like -6). I was able to get through the run only because I knew we had time for only a short one.
Wednesday (16km)
I was up early to play basketball and felt tired by the time this workout rolled around. It wasn't great. Stupidly cold and the road had too much fresh snow on it. My back and hips were tired from the slipping. We did partner relays of 5x670m each, then a tempo of 3.75km. My tempo was in 13:34, so slower than last week's 5k tempo, but the effort was not bad. I am really looking forward to bare roads.
Thursday (12km)
This is turning into a low-mileage week. Did just under 52 minutes with Chris. My legs were really tired from the workout yesterday. It was not a fast pace, yet we covered the loop faster than usual - I do not know how we did it.
Friday (elliptical)
I had been scheduled for an off day yesterday, and today it caught up with me. I did under 20 minutes on the elliptical in the morning, then did some weights before school.
Saturday (15km)
I decided to go home to Brockville for the weekend. This run was 62 minutes - my usual route from home with a few slight modifications. It took me a while to get into a good pace, but I ran well to finish.
Sunday (18km)
I had forgotten my watch in London, so I borrowed one with really sensitive buttons. I lost track of my total time when I stopped to talk to someone, but it was within two minutes of 80 minutes total time. It was cold when I started, but warm by the time I finished. My pace the whole way was pretty slow - I had just had breakfast an hour before.
Total - 82km. Pretty low.
On my own today. I did just 45 minutes on my own. I was feeling rough today - I had trouble sleeping last night and woke up feeling unwell. I wore shorts for a 45 minuter. I went from my apartment up to school to feed fish, then came back through Gibbons and back along Oxford. Pretty short.
Tuesday (10km)
I forgot long pants today, which was a mistake - it was -1C, snowy and windy (felt like -6). I was able to get through the run only because I knew we had time for only a short one.
Wednesday (16km)
I was up early to play basketball and felt tired by the time this workout rolled around. It wasn't great. Stupidly cold and the road had too much fresh snow on it. My back and hips were tired from the slipping. We did partner relays of 5x670m each, then a tempo of 3.75km. My tempo was in 13:34, so slower than last week's 5k tempo, but the effort was not bad. I am really looking forward to bare roads.
Thursday (12km)
This is turning into a low-mileage week. Did just under 52 minutes with Chris. My legs were really tired from the workout yesterday. It was not a fast pace, yet we covered the loop faster than usual - I do not know how we did it.
Friday (elliptical)
I had been scheduled for an off day yesterday, and today it caught up with me. I did under 20 minutes on the elliptical in the morning, then did some weights before school.
Saturday (15km)
I decided to go home to Brockville for the weekend. This run was 62 minutes - my usual route from home with a few slight modifications. It took me a while to get into a good pace, but I ran well to finish.
Sunday (18km)
I had forgotten my watch in London, so I borrowed one with really sensitive buttons. I lost track of my total time when I stopped to talk to someone, but it was within two minutes of 80 minutes total time. It was cold when I started, but warm by the time I finished. My pace the whole way was pretty slow - I had just had breakfast an hour before.
Total - 82km. Pretty low.
Monday, February 18, 2008
February 18-24
Monday (16km)
69 minutes with Chris. I ran out to meet him on Western Road, then looped around EOA, and back to my apartment. It was slippery and wet, but not as bad as yesterday. I was feeling sore, so it was not very fast.
Tuesday (13km)
53 minutes with Chris from campus. This was not a very good run, and it is a bit of a stretch to call it 13km (but probably balances with yesterday's underestimate). We went south from campus on our Wharncliffe route. South of TD Waterhouse Stadium, the bikepath was flooded and frozen over. We crashed through the ice for a few steps before Chris went to one side and I went to the other. I slipped and landed hard on my back. It was really jarring. I had to walk a few steps before I was okay to run again. Later, Chris had to dash to a washroom. We had to cut the run short so that we made it back for trivia in time. I sure am looking forward to bare sidewalks again.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Good, long workout. 5k tempo on a 1.25km loop, then 3x1k (with more than 1:1 rest to work), and 2.5k tempo to finish. On the first tempo, I did my part, leading much of the way. Chris Nagle was on my shoulder the whole way. Chris Smith fell off after the second loop, and I honestly thought he had stopped. I was surprised when he trucked us down in the final 300m and finished strong with us. Splits were 4:32/4:25/4:25/4:25 - pretty even. 17:47 total, which I felt quite good about in these conditions. On the 1ks, I was a little cautious because of the slightly slippery roads, and went 3:18, 3:12, 3:11. The two Chrises were several seconds ahead of me on each km repeat. On the second tempo, Chris Smith pushed the pace from the beginning. I fell off with about 500m to go, but moved to within a stride of them over the final 200m. 4:16/4:08. Pretty solid. I was happy with this workout. I resisted the temptation of a mid-afternoon piece of cake and felt better because of it. My diaphragm was sore, though - possibly because of the cold?
Thursday (13.5km)
I did a light weight workout in the morning before school.
I had forgotten my watch at home and Chris's does not work, so I am not sure how long we ran for. I guessed it was in the mid-50 minutes. It was not a fast pace. Chris got into a shouting match with the driver of one car because I had intentionally slapped it as we ran past - the driver had practically entered the intersection on a red light. We also had to take a few stops for Chris to mark his territory. We were up in his neighbourhood. I have decided that my sore diaphragm from yesterday is more likely a pulled abdominal muscle. I'll try to monitor it over the next couple of days.
Friday (OFF)
I slept too late to get in a run before school, and was busy in the evening. I had to take an unscheduled rest day.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his place. We did the Adelaide trails for the first time in several months. The ice in some parts were four inches thick. We stopped to play with it for a couple of minutes before moving on. I did some weights and core in the afternoon. My abs felt fine during the run, but were really sore in the evening. Still the muscle pull, I think.
Sunday (11km)
My first bad workout in a while. I did a short warmup with Dennis, then sat in a car for 30 minutes as Chris and Ben started their tempo run. Dennis and I hopped out at their 8k mark. I was feeling good for the first two km, but when we turned south onto Hyde Park around 5k, I started to have a lot of trouble with the wind. My legs were tight, and my shoulders were feeling really sore. I quit at 8k. The lesson here is to not do a weight workout the day before a Denfield run.
Total - 87.5km. Not an impressive total. I need to stop missing days and get into a better morning routine so that I can do a Friday run.
69 minutes with Chris. I ran out to meet him on Western Road, then looped around EOA, and back to my apartment. It was slippery and wet, but not as bad as yesterday. I was feeling sore, so it was not very fast.
Tuesday (13km)
53 minutes with Chris from campus. This was not a very good run, and it is a bit of a stretch to call it 13km (but probably balances with yesterday's underestimate). We went south from campus on our Wharncliffe route. South of TD Waterhouse Stadium, the bikepath was flooded and frozen over. We crashed through the ice for a few steps before Chris went to one side and I went to the other. I slipped and landed hard on my back. It was really jarring. I had to walk a few steps before I was okay to run again. Later, Chris had to dash to a washroom. We had to cut the run short so that we made it back for trivia in time. I sure am looking forward to bare sidewalks again.
Wednesday (workout - 19km total)
Good, long workout. 5k tempo on a 1.25km loop, then 3x1k (with more than 1:1 rest to work), and 2.5k tempo to finish. On the first tempo, I did my part, leading much of the way. Chris Nagle was on my shoulder the whole way. Chris Smith fell off after the second loop, and I honestly thought he had stopped. I was surprised when he trucked us down in the final 300m and finished strong with us. Splits were 4:32/4:25/4:25/4:25 - pretty even. 17:47 total, which I felt quite good about in these conditions. On the 1ks, I was a little cautious because of the slightly slippery roads, and went 3:18, 3:12, 3:11. The two Chrises were several seconds ahead of me on each km repeat. On the second tempo, Chris Smith pushed the pace from the beginning. I fell off with about 500m to go, but moved to within a stride of them over the final 200m. 4:16/4:08. Pretty solid. I was happy with this workout. I resisted the temptation of a mid-afternoon piece of cake and felt better because of it. My diaphragm was sore, though - possibly because of the cold?
Thursday (13.5km)
I did a light weight workout in the morning before school.
I had forgotten my watch at home and Chris's does not work, so I am not sure how long we ran for. I guessed it was in the mid-50 minutes. It was not a fast pace. Chris got into a shouting match with the driver of one car because I had intentionally slapped it as we ran past - the driver had practically entered the intersection on a red light. We also had to take a few stops for Chris to mark his territory. We were up in his neighbourhood. I have decided that my sore diaphragm from yesterday is more likely a pulled abdominal muscle. I'll try to monitor it over the next couple of days.
Friday (OFF)
I slept too late to get in a run before school, and was busy in the evening. I had to take an unscheduled rest day.
Saturday (15km)
62 minutes with Chris from his place. We did the Adelaide trails for the first time in several months. The ice in some parts were four inches thick. We stopped to play with it for a couple of minutes before moving on. I did some weights and core in the afternoon. My abs felt fine during the run, but were really sore in the evening. Still the muscle pull, I think.
Sunday (11km)
My first bad workout in a while. I did a short warmup with Dennis, then sat in a car for 30 minutes as Chris and Ben started their tempo run. Dennis and I hopped out at their 8k mark. I was feeling good for the first two km, but when we turned south onto Hyde Park around 5k, I started to have a lot of trouble with the wind. My legs were tight, and my shoulders were feeling really sore. I quit at 8k. The lesson here is to not do a weight workout the day before a Denfield run.
Total - 87.5km. Not an impressive total. I need to stop missing days and get into a better morning routine so that I can do a Friday run.
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